An Unexpected Adventure
by qxeenvictoria
Summary: This is the story of how I, Victoria, end up in a completely different world called Middle Earth. I travel with the Fellowship of the Ring, with knowledge of future events. I journey far over the Misty Mountains cold, through the plains of Rohan, and to the White City of Gondor, all with a certain elf prince by my side. This is my first fanfiction, so reviews are appreciated :)
1. Introductions

Let's get one thing straight, I had an extremely ordinary life. I grew up in an ordinary house, with ordinary people, in an ordinary country. I had a Mom, a Dad, a younger brother and two dogs. The sign for our suburb read 'Glen Iris, Melbourne, Australia: an Exciting Place to Live.' To make it even more ordinary, the local government decided to paint all the houses on my street green and white to make it 'interesting'. I always thought they looked more like cloned birdhouses crammed against each other along a busy street where nothing happens.

My parents, both of whom were full on British, spent alot of time with my younger brother, who was severely autistic. Regular therapy appointments and special needs workshops dictated my family's schedule, so I was left at home most of the time.

I was jealous, as most children would be, but I knew my parents still loved me. At the end of the day I kind of enjoyed spending time alone in the house, because I was free to do whatever I wanted. From being alone I had time to work on my drawing, a hobby which had started since I was eight.

Out of all the options, watching movies was among my favourite pass-time activities. They provided a nice little escape into other worlds, much more exciting and interesting than my own. For a few precious hours, I could get myself wrapped up in a movie and completely forget everything around me. Most of the time, the movies I watched was the Lord of the Rings.

The beauty of the feature films was only matched by the beauty of the written work by the great JRR Tolkien. I loved it so much that I used to draw the characters and make up little stories about them in Middle Earth, a magical medieval land in which I longed to join them in.

There are scenes in those movies that I have learned off by heart. 'By heart' is not an expression that I use lightly. My heart is weak and unreliable, much like my lungs and throat which would contract until I had incredible trouble breathing. Because of these set-backs, I was quite happy to sit down to draw and watch movies for the rest of my life.

Almost every night I would watch the Fellowship of the Ring; I would set my computer down on my bedside table then slip into bed, and stare at the ceiling, reciting each line along with the actors. As the Shire theme burbled in the background, my heart rate would slow and I'd inhale deeply until I was asleep. Those movies were one of the only things that truly calmed me down after whatever had happened in the day, so when I finally fell asleep, I would at least be happy. This went on for quite a while.

These movies became my obsession, but as soon as I entered my late teens, my studies took priority. I didn't have time to think about a silly made up world where elves and hobbits and wizards lived. Now that exams constantly loomed over my head, I had to focus on getting through university, getting a career, getting money; basically getting a life.

I eventually decided that I wanted to become an animator for a small company I'd discovered. It was a perfect blend of my two favorite things, drawing and movies. I entered university with a part-time job and a tiny apartment all the way over in a very wet and cold England.

Everything was going well, until I turned twenty-four. That was when it happened, that was when I literally fell into another world, which just so happened to be Middle Earth. Oh, I almost forgot; I'm Victoria by the way, Victoria Aitken.


	2. A Stranger in the Woods

Suddenly there was thunder, heavy and rolling, shaking the ground and as it ended, a terrified woman's cry split the silence. As Legolas looked up, the branches bent as something fell through them. A young woman tumbled through the air and onto the ground with a loud thump. She rolled on her side as she regained her lost breath and rubbed the fresh pain away from her shoulder.

Legolas stared, trying to comprehend what he saw before him. A woman with long golden hair, a blue half sleeve shirt and a pair of long white trousers, now stained with mud and leaves had just fallen no more than a few meters in front of him. She had risen to her feet and started to brush the dirt off herself when she heard a twig snap. She whipped her head around and felt her breath catch in her throat. A tall man with long blonde hair was stepping towards her.

Victoria stood there, unable to move, unable to take her eyes off him. Her mind screamed for her to run but her legs refused to work. The bluest eyes she had ever seen stared back, burning into hers.

"What are you doing in these woods?" he asked. Victoria was surprised at the softness of his voice, nothing like the ice in his eyes. She glanced at him, finally taking a moment to study his odd appearance. He was dressed in greens and browns, his clothes fitting snugly against him. His face was flawless, handsome, almost ageless. _'He looks just like Legolas from Lord of the Rings!'_ she realised.

"What's going on, where am I?" She wondered, feeling panicked. She took a step back as he neared.

"Don't move," he demanded in the same silky voice.

Victoria took a deep breath and sprinted in the other direction away from the man. She hadn't gotten far when a strong hand grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop. He had pulled her underneath the shade of a nearby tree to shield his eyes from the blinding sun above. She was surprised at his quickness, but she was indeed annoyed at him.

"Im going to ask you once more, what are you doing in these woods?"

Victoria decided not to be clever and told him the truth.

"I'm lost," she admitted, "I have no idea where I am... Please don't kill me," She added.

He studied her for a minute, and slowly released her arm and took a step back.

"What is your name?" he asked finally.

Victoria let out a breath she wasn't aware she was holding. _'He isn't going to kill me, calm down.'_ she thought to herself.

"Victoria Aitken."

"Victoria?" He repeated, as if it was a strange name. "Where are you from?"

"England," she answered, at this answer Legolas shot her a confused look.

"Well actually I live in England right now, I was born in Australia," she continued, hoping not to confuse him, as she spoke in a british accent.

"I do not know of any _England_ or _Australia_," he replied.

"Ok, well where am I now?" Victoria asked with a slight quiver in her voice. Despite the man in utter confusion with her, he was very intimidating.

"You do not know?" He replied with an even more confused look.

"Oh, Let me guess," she said with a sarcastic laugh, "We're in Middle Earth."

"Yes," he answered speaking to her like she was a child.

"Alright, then YOU must be Prince Legolas," she said with another laugh.

He gasped in shock. "How do you know who I am?!" He requested sharply.

Victoria decided to play along, "Lord of the Rings is my favorite, how could I not know who you are! I've always dreamed of going to Middle Earth, to meet the Fellowship, Aragon, Frodo, Sam, Merry, Pippin, Boromir, Gandalf, Gimli, and... Legolas." she turned to look at him for a moment and then gasped as she moved her gaze to his head.

"What's wrong?" Legolas asked as if there was danger approaching.

"Your ears..." She whispered in disbelief. "They're pointed."

"Of course they are. I am an Elf... did you not know this? You seem to know everything else," annoyance was thick in his voice.

That was it, that was enough evidence to prove she really was in Middle Earth, and Victoria wasn't sure whether to rejoice or to panic. _'Just stay cool,' _she agreed.

Legolas took her wrist and walked towards the edge of the forest.

"Are we in Mirkwood?" she asked quietly.

"No, we are in Rivendell." he frowned at her.

"Are you on your way to the Council of Elrond? she asked boldly.

He appeared startled, "You know of the council?!"

"Of course, Frodo will present the ring, Boromir will try to take it for Gondor, then there is the whole 'You have, my sword, bow, axe' thing, la la la la la, few minutes later there is a Fellowship of th-" Victoria was interrupted. Legolas had stopped and pushed her up against a large brown oak tree, forearm pressing against her throat, leaving her gasping for air and powerless.

"How does a lost woman from a far-off land know so much about a _secret_ council meeting concerning the Ring of Power?" He demanded curiously, yet venom and danger dripped from his voice.

"Let me g-go, I can't b-breathe..." she chocked out in anger and in fear. Legolas reluctantly released his arm from her throat. Victoria breathing heavily slid down the trunk of the tree and sat on the soft grass, clutching her slightly bruised neck.

"Now, answer me!" He told her firmly.

"There are these moving pictures in my world, and they told the story of the War of the Ring," trying her best to describe a television to him, "they also have books describing it and paintings showing it. This story is well known by my people."

"Are you saying I am living in the past, and that in your lands everything has already happened?!" he exclaimed.

"Well, as I said it's a story, nothing more in my world, but here it is very real, from first impressions." Victoria quickly finished speaking, hoping not to be chocked this time.

"Come with me," Legolas took her wrist again and continued to walk through the emerald forest until finally stopping at a large white horse along a dirt pathway.

"Can you ride?" He asked, and Victoria nodded in reply.

"Um, there's no saddle." She pointed out. She had only ridden a horse a few times, but never without the proper equipment. Legolas looked up understanding her problem, then reached down and grabbed her around the waist.

"Wait," she whispered nervously. "What is going to happen to me?"

Realisation dawned in his eyes and his face grew softer. He lowered his head slightly until it was mere centimeters away.

Victoria found herself unable to breathe while her heart started to race in her chest. She stared dreamily into Legolas' vibrant ocean coloured eyes while Legolas stared right back into her deep hazel ones.

"No harm with come to you." He said in his hypnotising voice. Then he lifted her onto the horse and the moment was broken.

Legolas sat just behind her, not wanting this strange woman out of his sight. They trotted along a winding mountain pass with many ferns and stony paths. The ride wasn't long, but before Victoria had dropped off to sleep to the melodic beat of the horse's trots, they stopped outside a beautiful castle. Except it wasn't a castle, it was like a house, a very big house. It was Rivendell, the last Homely House of Elrond.


	3. Rivendell

Victoria gaped in awe at the magnificence that was Rivendell. It was too much to look at from a first glance, so instead she walked towards the incredible view, trying to take it all in. Rivendell was made up of many structures linked by arches and stone bridges. Numerous balconies protruded from the cliff on which it stood, overlooking the valley filled to the brim with the tallest and the greenest of trees. Waterfalls poured out underneath the bridges and in between the buildings into the valley below, and as Victoria squinted in the bright sunlight, she noticed a courtyard in amongst the rustling trees.

'_Wait, no, it can't be... it is! That is the exact place where they held the Council of Elrond! Well, soon to be held I suppose. How did they design this place, with the waterfalls right below it, and how its basically built off a ledge in a mountain...elven magic, obviously!'_ She wondered with a slight smirk.

Victoria heard soft footsteps behind her and turned to see Legolas walking towards her with two elf guards walking swiftly beside him.

"Time to go," said Legolas, gesturing towards a stone walkway leading into Rivendell.

Cautiously, she stepped towards the bridge, realising there were no handrails or safety nets at the bottom. Peering over the edge, she noticed that in the event that she would fall, all there would be to catch her, was a cold, rough tidal wave of water and rocks. '_Just don't be an idiot and fall in,'_ she told herself firmly.

At that moment, one of the elven guards walked beside her, "My lady we must make haste, Lord Elrond is waiting." he said urgently.

'_Elrond? Waiting for me? What did I do? ...Oh, he's probably waiting for Legolas and the other elves from Mirkwood to arrive.' She thought, 'I don't suppose I'm that important here right now, with the council and the ring and everything... although, I have always wanted to see Rivendell.'_

A sudden burst of energy and excitement hit her, she started walking over the cobblestone bridge at a surprisingly quick pace. The fear of falling into the raging waterfall below her was overpowered by a shot of excitement and adventure. Legolas and the two guards trailed behind as Victoria gazed all around the beautiful scenery. She ran her hands along the immaculate stonework of the archway she had just passed under, it was covered with carvings of vines and leaves twirling into complex shapes. Trees and flowerbeds lined the reception area, giving it a natural and balanced atmosphere of stone and greenery.

'The elves really like their nature don't they_,'_ she whispered quietly to herself, a small smile appeared on her face. She still couldn't get over the fact that she was actually there, in Middle Earth. All of it seemed just too different from her own world, but this one was also incredibly beautiful and exciting at the same time.

She turned around to face the others, and found herself staring directly at a tall, dark haired elf striding towards them. He wore a long red robe with gold vine patterns embroidered onto the fabric, his hair was pulled back and braided to expose a welcoming face. Victoria knew exactly who this was.

"Gellon ned Legôlas Graànlàf i Mírkwood, galar i chent lîn ned i gladhol." (Welcome Legolas Greanleaf of Mirkwood, I see you have brought a fair lady with you), he spoke in a language she couldn't understand, she guessed they were somehow saying hello.

"Gi suilon Êlrond! Êl síla erin lû e-govaned vîn Víctoria. Odulen an edraith angin omenta." (_Greetings Lord Elrond of Rivendell, this is Lady Victoria, she knows much of the upcoming council meeting. We need to determine if this woman is a spy of Saroun or simply insane_), Legolas replied.

"_Mae g'ovannen, _amin a' ar' lle vee' ilya tuulo' lye ier e' en' ra quintö" (_I will talk to her, and you will join me, as all information from our allies are valuable in these times of great importance._)

Elrond strode over to the lady with a warm smile on his face. He was old, but sort of young, if that was possible. She could see lifetimes of experience etched into his features, making him look fatherly and wise.

"Hi Elrond!" Victoria said with a grin that went from ear to ear. Lord Elrond was taken aback by the casualness of her speech. Suddenly remembering that that wasn't exactly the way to talk to a Lord of an elven kingdom, Victoria stammered, "I..um I mean, greetings Lord Elrond of Rivendell, it is an honour to meet you." correcting her bad manners.

The smile returned to Lord Elrond's face, "You have come a long way to arrive in Rivendell. I understand that you know information concerning the council meeting that is about to be held."

"Yes, I do, and I also know what will happen from this point onwards." Victoria tilted her head upwards to see Elrond's warm expression turn serious.

"Shall we go inside to discuss this matter further?" he asked. Well, it was more of an order rather than a question. "Sure," Victoria grunted as she followed Legolas and Elrond out of the blinding sunlight and into a tower at the very back of Rivendell.

Her legs burned from the amount of stairs she had to climb, and when she had finally reached the top of the spiral stairs, she saw a large room spread in front of her, deep brown wood furniture was dotted around the room and decorated with different tones of green and silver pillows and fabrics. A balcony was at the far end of the room, looking out over the grand vista of the valley. Victoria plopped down on a comfortable looking armchair with intricate wood carvings on the edges and arm rest, while Elrond and Legolas took two more seats directly facing her.

"Now Victoria, how did you arrive in Rivendell?" Elrond asked curiously. Victoria saw no reason to lie, "I honestly don't know how I got here, all I did was walk through a forest to clear my head, and then I fall out of the sky and end up in a completely separate world!"

Elrond was confused at this answer, he was expecting a simple story of simple folk, one of someone losing their way on a journey, but this was entirely different. Victoria spoke up, "Just asking, is this place real? Like, I can come here and affect things, or is it a fixed point in time or something?"

"Well, to us it seems quite real, it is our home, if you hadn't arrived, I would be attending to other duties, but I am here with you discussing this matter. So yes I think you can affect things just like every other person on this earth." Elrond concluded. Victoria had to take a minute to process the crucial information put before her, '_If I really am in the story of Lord of the Rings, and I can affect things, then I can surely change the story aswell. It's like in those movies, where you step on a butterfly and you change the course of the human race! …Ugh, I better not mess anything up then.' _

Lord Elrond broke the silence, "How do you know about the council meeting and the ring?" yet another question, but this time Legolas answered, "She talks of 'television' and stories of the events about to happen including the council. Obviously it is impossible to have such things, moving pictures and future telling books." Legolas scoffed at the idea.

Upon hearing this remark, Victoria shot him a dirty look, "And I suppose you know everything there is to know about televisions, I just so happen to make the 'moving pictures' you speak so terribly of!" she crossed her armed in frustration.

"Well, if we are quite finished," Elrond said coolly, trying to calm the two of them down, "Can you tell me what will happen from this point onwards?" Victoria sat back on against the chair gazing out the balcony, staring at blank space.

"Lady Victoria," Elrond said, drawing her attention back to the question.

She eventually spoke, "I can't."

"If you claim to know what will happen and you do not tell us, how can we confirm you truly possess this information?" Legolas said doubtfully.

"Because, Legolas, if I told you what will happen, I could seriously change things, I don't know what moments to alter or what moments I have to leave untouched. Plus it wouldn't make for a very good story if you always know what will happen next…Spoilers!"

"You are wise not to tell us too much," Elrond turned to Victoria with a glint of respect in his eyes, then turned to Legolas, "I will see you at the council meeting tomorrow, good day."

That was Legolas' cue to leave and he was happy about it, in truth, he found her puzzling. Nothing about her made sense, from her strange clothes, to the way she spoke, she was unfamiliar to him and he knew next to nothing about her. She made him feel uneasy, a feeling he didn't like at all. After Legolas had exited, Lord Elrond continued, "If you truly are from another world, how do you know about the events of another one?"

This interrogation unfortunately went on for what felt like hours, Elrond would swamp her with questions and she would try to answer back honestly. Soon enough, the sky was a canvas splattered with reds and yellows creating a beautiful sunset painting, and Elrond finally came to a conclusion, "Lady Victoria, you will attend the council meeting tomorrow morning. Please be ready by 8 o'clock, I will have a room prepared for you. Please get some rest."

Victoria skipped down the stairs, much easier to go downhill than uphill. When she reached the bottom, she saw the setting sun shine through the branches casting a pinkish hue on the surrounding buildings. 'I'm hardly tired, I can't think about going to sleep at this point.'

She decided to walk around for a bit, she strolled in no particular direction in between the buildings, marvelling at the architecture and detail put into every brick and column. Eventually she reached the edge of Rivendell, and sat down on the bare rock, dangling her feet over the edge of the cliff. She stared at her beaten up green canvas shoes, covered with dirt and smudges, they instantly reminded her of home. 'All the time spent alone, no one really there, and yet here in my fantasy world I feel more alone than ever…' she was lost in thought for a while, just thinking about home, and how different it was to here, breathing in the fresh forest breeze and admiring the view.

As the sun was disappearing under the horizon, Victoria felt as if she was being watched, and spun her head around in all directions until meeting the gaze of an elf staring down at her. It was Legolas.

"Oh it's just you Greenleaf!" she tried not to sound surprised.

"How did you kno- Never mind…" he started in confusion but eventually gave up, apparently she knew more about him than he did!

"What are you doing out here alone? You are expected at the council meeting tomorrow, you shouldn't be wandering around." Legolas nagged.

Victoria suddenly remembered how annoying Legolas could get, "Ugh, the council meeting is tomorrow, I'm not needed anywhere right now so I'm allowed to relax. And anyway, you're the prince of Mirkwood, what are YOU doing out here alone? Shouldn't you be attending to your royal subjects or something?" At this point Victoria just wanted to be left alone.

"I came here to apologise…" He muttered slowly.

"Apologise for what?" She snapped impatiently.

"For strangling you earlier." Victoria's eyes widened with realisation at what he had just said.

"Oh that… um, don't worry about it, i-it's fine…" She stammered, not really knowing how to reply. She looked up at him, she could tell he was guilty, it was in his eyes and in the way he spoke. Sympathy rose up, she was almost touched by his sincerity, yet she was still incredibly annoyed with him.

"Apology accepted," she told him quickly. There was an extremely awkward pause, until a full minute later, Legolas spoke. "May I walk you back to your room?" he asked. Victoria took a second to think it over, 'It's getting dark, I have to get back to my room anyway, and it would be a bit rude to decline his offer. He's honestly trying to make up for his mistake… ugh fine.'

"Okay," she answered. Legolas held out a hand to help her up from sitting on the ground, she stood up by herself, "I'm fine, I don't need help." Victoria told him firmly. Legolas' eyes were cast down to the ground, and Victoria suddenly felt bad for him, he was only trying to help. She walked throughout Rivendell with Legolas strolling beside her in silence. Over bridges, under archways and past numerous gardens until Legolas stopped outside a dark oak door on the far side of the city.

"I suppose I will see you again at the council tomorrow…" He began.

"Yes, I'll see you, uh, then," Victoria continued, "Thanks, by the way," she said trying to make him feel a bit better. Legolas' lips curved upwards, to the tiniest of smiles.

"Goodnight Lady Victoria," Legolas finished as he turned to walk in the other direction. Victoria watched as his silhouette quickly disappeared into the darkness. She shut her door quietly, 'I had better get to sleep, I have a big day tomorrow.'


	4. The Council of Elrond

The early morning sunrise shone through the stained glass window casting a green light upon a sleeping Victoria. The bed in which she was curled up in was decorated in dark hand carved wood, it was at least twice the size of the one in her small apartment back home. Victoria groaned as she was blinded by the light and eventually sat upright on the bed, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

Looking around the room, she was confused, 'How did I end up here,' her mind raced until she remembered, 'Oh right, I'm in Rivendell…' it still took a while for it to sink in, but there was no time to worry about that, she had a council to attend to.

She scanned the room, finally able to see it in full light; the furniture was large, but not bulky, the carvings intricate, but not overly ornate.

"I could get used to this!" Victoria whispered with a grin.

She spied a small door in the corner of the room, got up from the soft bed and opened it cautiously. 'No way, they have bathrooms here?!' Victoria thought, barely believing her luck. Inside was a metal bathtub, and what she assumed would be called a chamber pot. After immensely enjoying a hot bath, Victoria wrapped herself in one of the towels provided and walked out of the bathroom and across the room in search of a change of clothes.

Victoria found a small wardrobe on the right side of the bed. Hanging inside was a variety of dresses, all made with silky lightweight material in of many different colours and shades. She pulled out a light blue one, and quickly slipped from her towel into the garment.

She walked over to the mirror and studied her reflection.

"Not bad," turning from side to side, trying to see the whole outfit. The dress had long sleeves with white beads along the collar and waist, perfectly matching the pastel colour of the dress. It was loose but fit well against her skin, the length of the outfit was so long that it pooled at her feet.

She took a moment to study herself - Her face had smooth skin with a fair amount of freckles along the nose, her torso was nicely proportioned with her legs, making her look taller. Her hair was a cross between light brown and blonde which grew until half way down her arm. Her eyes, ugh, brown and boring. Lastly her teeth; they had barely begun to straighten themselves out after years of crookedness, and she was still left with that small gap in between her two front teeth.

All in all, she knew she had decent looks, no-one had ever called her beautiful, but then again no-one called her a toad. "I don't look that bad," she said with a smile. Victoria walked towards the door leading out of the room and slipped on her green canvas shoes. She refused to wear heels, it was hard enough to walk with all the extra fabric at her feet, tripping her up numerous times. "I seriously don't know how these women walk in these clothes every day," Victoria said to herself.

She opened the door to feel the fresh breeze on her face, and swiftly walked in the direction of the council, hoping that she wasn't late.

Seated in a circle are all the representatives of Middle Earth, Men, Elves, and Dwarves. Opposite the elves were the men, Legolas could only recognise one of them, a tall dark haired man with a short scruffy beard was sat legs apart, tapping his foot. This was Aragorn, son of Arathorn and Legolas' dear friend. On the right side of the dwarves sat Elrond, Gandalf the wizard, and a young hobbit with dark curly hair. Everyone had gathered and was awaiting the beginning of the meeting, yet one empty chair still remained.

'Crap, I'm late,' Victoria screamed in her head as she ran down the stairs into the courtyard. She quickly took the empty chair in between Lord Elrond and Frodo, trying not to draw attention to herself.

Early morning birdsong and the rustling of trees filled the seconds of silence as Elrond stood to begin the meeting, "Strangers from distant lands, friends of old. You have been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor. Middle Earth stands upon the brink of destruction. None can escape it. You will unite or you will fall. Each race is bound to this fate, this one doom. Elrond scanned them all and settled his gaze on the hobbit, gesturing to him, "Bring forth the Ring, Frodo."

Frodo cautiously walked over to the stone plinth in the middle of the council circle and carefully placed the Ring down.

Muttering came from all members of the council as Frodo sat back down sighing in what appeared to be a mixture of fatigue and pain. _'The Ring is already taking hold of him,'_ Victoria thought sadly. The hobbit caught her staring and they exchanged polite smiles before turning their heads back to the council. 'That's Boromir's cue,' she said to herself, knowing the entire scene off by heart.

On the opposite side of the circle, a man with ginger coloured hair and beard, dressed in a red and blue tunic stood up, "In a dream, I saw the Eastern sky grow dark, but in the West a pale light lingered." He started to edge his way over to the plinth, continuing to speak, "A voice was crying, your doom is near at hand when Isildur's bane is found."

Elrond and Gandalf looked at each other with a concerned expression, and when the man stretched out his hand to the Ring, they both jumped to their feet. "Boromir!" Elrond shouted. The sky darkened as Gandalf began to chant the Ring's poem in Black Speech. Boromir jumped back, terrified.

Victoria covered her ears, while Gandalf's booming voice made her go slightly deaf. "Ash nazg durbatulûk, ash nazg gimbatul, ash nazg thrakatulûk," Victoria noticed Elrond holding his head in pain and Legolas closing his eyes grimacing as Gandalf's chanting continued, "agh burzum-ishi krimpatul,"

The sky cleared of shadow and the sun reappeared from it's hiding to light up the courtyard once more. Elrond, horrified and angered, spoke, "Never before has anyone uttered words of that tongue here in Imladris!"

"I do not ask your pardon Master Elrond, for the Black Speech of Mordor may yet be heard in every corner of the West." He turned to stare at Boromir, "the Ring is altogether evil," he snapped and turned to sit back down.

Boromir, still staring at the Ring, shook his head, "Aye it is a gift! A gift to the foes of Mordor. Why not use this Ring?" He walked round addressing everyone, "long has my father, the Steward of Gondor kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people, are your lands kept safe? Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy, let us use it against him!" He finished.

Victoria gazed across the circle to see Aragorn about to speak, "You cannot wield it, none of us can. The One Ring answers to Sauron alone, it has no other master."

The auburn haired man fired back scathingly, "and what would a ranger know of this matter?!"

Only a few seats to her left, Legolas, dressed in a brown cloak stood up, "this is no mere Ranger. He is Aragorn son of Arathorn, you owe him your allegiance."

Boromir looked from Legolas to Aragorn in disbelief, "Aragorn! This.. is Isildur's heir?!"

"And heir to the throne of Gondor" Legolas continued.

Boromir turned to Legolas, "Gondor has no King," he walked back to his seat, staring at Aragorn disdainfully, "Gondor needs no King."

Gandalf chimed in, "Aragorn is right. We cannot use it."

Elrond stood up again, "You have only one choice, The Ring must be destroyed."

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Grumbled a red haired dwarf no more than two seats away. He stood up with axe in hand and strode over to the plinth, intending to smash the Ring to pieces. Victoria was torn between staying quiet and stopping him, she subconsciously made her decision as she jumped up from her seat.

"GIMLI!"

The sound echoed throughout the building, and Victoria, not realising the deafining sound of her own voice, had every member of the council's eyes upon her. Gimli held his axe high in the air, and was starting right at her, confused.

She swallowed nervously and began to speak, "um- uh, Gimli, if I were you I wouldn't try to destroy the Ring right now, mainly because you can't and it would break your axe."

The dwarf cautiously lowered his axe and stomped over to where she was standing and looked up at her fiercely. "Are you implying that I am not worthy enough to destroy it? Are you testing the might of the dwarves?!" He asked furiously.

Taken aback by his accusation, Victoria stammered and held her hands out as if the protect herself, "No, no, no, I-I'm not, it's just that, the Ring cannot be destroyed by any craft that we here posses. The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom, and only there can it be unmade," she said, quoting Elrond.

"You know much about this ring, my lady. How did you come by this information?" Aragorn asked.

"I-I um, read about it in a book." Victoria said finally, not wanting to have to explain the concept of television to the entire council.

"Well, a woman should not meddle in the ways of the world, especially if it concerns the Ring of Power." Boromir declared. Victoria shot him a dirty look as she sank back into her chair, _'What the hell is wrong with men here?! Annoying, stubborn, AND sexist at the same time!'_ she thought angrily.

Elrond continued talking, "the Ring must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came. One of you... must do this."

There was silence. Nobody spoke. No one dared to move, not until Boromir spoke up again, "One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its black gates are guarded by more than just orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep, and the great eye is ever watchful. Tis a barren wasteland, riddled with fire and ash and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you do this, it is folly!" He said shaking his head.

Legolas jumped to his feet and shouted at Boromir, "have you heard nothing Lord Elrond has said?! The Ring must be destroyed!"

"And I suppose you think you're the one to do it!" Gimli said, confronting the elf.

"And if we fail, what then? What happens when Sauron takes back what is his?!" Boromir fired back.

"I will be dead before I see the Ring in the hands of an elf!" Gimli bellowed.

The elves sprung to their feet to back Legolas. The men did the same for Aragorn. They all started shouting and yelling until the conversation was a mere cacophony of deafening arguments. Victoria looked to her left to see Frodo holding his head in pain whilst glancing over at the Ring.

After a few seconds he finally rose from his chair and plodded towards the group, "I will take it!" He yelled, trying to be heard over the racket. He yelled again, "I will take it!" It took a while, but eventually the council members stopped their bickering and gazed at him in awe, "I will take the Ring to Mordor," he said again, "though, I do not know the way."

"I will help you bear this burden Frodo Baggins, as long as it is yours to bear." Gandalf said reassuringly as he clapped a hand on the hobbit's shoulder and stood behind him.

Aragorn knelt down to meet Frodo's gaze, "if by my life or death I can protect you, I will. You have my sword."

"And you have my bow," said Legolas, chiming in.

"And my axe," Gimli said proudly, as he walked over to meet the others. He looked at Legolas who grimaced, he was not holding back any feelings discomfort about a dwarf joining the quest.

Boromir reluctantly stood with the group, "You carry the fate of us all little one. If this is indeed the will of the Council, then Gondor will see it done."

Out of the corner of Victoria's eye, she saw a hobbit peering through the bushes. Smiling at him, she nodded her head towards the group, encouraging him to join.

"Hey! Mr Frodo's not going anywhere without me." Sam cried as he took his place by Frodo's side.

"No indeed it is hardly possible to separate you, even when he is summoned to a secret council and you are not!" laughed Elrond.

Victoria craned her neck to see two small heads pop out from behind the stone pillars.

Elrond's head whipped around astounded, as the two hobbits ran in eagerly, "Wait! we're coming too!"

"You'd have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop us!" proclaimed Merry.

Pippin continued, "Anyway you need people of intelligence on this sort of mission...quest...thing"

"Well that rules you out Pip!" Merry whispered.

Elrond gazed at the nine stood together, "Nine companions... So be it! You shall be the Fellowship of the Ring!"

"Great! Where are we going?" Pippin asked innocently.

Victoria couldn't help but laugh.

Legolas looked around the group as it slowly thinned. He felt confident in his decision to travel with the Fellowship, knowing he would stop at nothing to see the Ring destroyed and peace restored to Middle Earth. The only thing he was unsure of, were his travelling companions. Aragorn he could understand, the man had been a long time friend, and proved himself trustworthy. Frodo seemed destined to carry the ring, and Gandalf would lead the way.

The others he was not as sure about, the three other hobbits seemed a little vulnerable, and the man Boromir he did not trust. But worst of all was the dwarf, Gimli. Legolas would rather it be anyone else but the dwarf.

As he mulled this over in his mind, Elrond strode over, "I am relieved that you will be traveling with the Fellowship," he said proudly, "although there is one thing that troubles me… the girl you found."

Legolas groaned inwardly, "what about her?"

"I had a long discussion with her yesterday, and the way she acted during the council meeting has lead me to believe that she is telling the truth." Elrond looked as surprised as Legolas.

Legolas peered into the elf's eyes, hoping to find some sign that this was some kind of joke.

It was no joke, he was serious.

Elrond spoke at last, "I believe she can help us... she will travel with the Fellowship."


	5. Setting Off

To say that Legolas was shocked would have been a huge understatement.

"You want a woman to go with us?!" he nearly shouted the words. Elrond nodded seriously.

"But, but," Legolas stammered. He had to change the elf's mind, "it is to dangerous. She does not understand the dangers and hardships we will face! All she will do is slow us down!"

Elrond shook his head as if the matter was already settled, "I have thought about that, and assure you it will not be a problem. Besides, if Lady Victoria truly has the gift of foresight, then she _does_ understand the difficulty of the trip ahead of her."

"You are right, the journey will no doubt be dangerous," Elrond continued softly, "and that is why I'm putting you in charge of her safety."

Legolas felt his eyes widen with even more disbelief; not only had he failed to talk Elrond out of his foolish plan, but he also had been given the task of watching over a woman who both annoyed and mystified him.

Elrond noticed his reaction, "You were meant to find her Legolas, She is in your life now for a purpose. That is why I put you in charge of her."

The blonde haired elf turned away from Elrond, breathing deeply. He knew there was no changing Elrond's mind, he would just have to cope.

"I will do this if I must," he finally said.

"Wonderful. Now all that is left to do, is to convince Lady Victoria." Elrond concluded.

"WHAT?!" Victoria exclaimed, staring at the elf in front of her.

"You will travel with the Fellowship," Elrond repeated, this time he was demanding.

Victoria fought down a scream. This _really_ was the last straw, yesterday's interrogation was enough, but now Elrond was demanding, DEMANDING that she go with them. Legolas walked up behind her, "The journey will be long and fraught with much danger," he warned, "You would take a life threatening risk by accepting."

'_He's trying to talk me out of it_,' Victoria realised with a frown. Her mind was now made up.

"I will go"

The look on Legolas' face was worth any amount of danger she had to face.

"Good," Elrond said with a relieved smile. "I have assigned Legolas to be your guardian. He will see to it that no harm comes to you."

Victoria's jaw dropped, 'A guardian?! What am I a child?!' she thought. However, compared to the elves, she supposed she was.

"The Fellowship leaves in an hour. Go pack your things." Elrond said, dismissing her.

Victoria felt the anger boil up inside her and walked quickly to her room, before she lost her temper. She swung her door open and paced around the room, arms folded.

"Great," she said to herself, "now I have to put up with an annoying elf for a babysitter for the next who-knows how long!"

Just as she finished complaining to herself, she heard a knock on the door. She walked over and turn the shiny brass handle, not in the mood for conversation, and found Legolas standing outside in the doorway.

"What do you want?" she snapped at him.

"You are angry because I was assigned to be your guardian," Legolas started boldly, "why?"

"I am not a child, I don't need your protection." she snapped.

"We will see," Legolas spoke smoothly, a hint of annoyance was just visible below the surface of clear frustration.

Victoria let out a small growl as she started to close the door on him.

Legolas grabbed the handle, stopping her, "I did not ask for this responsibility,"

He glared at her and locked on Victoria's gaze, she frowned at him refusing to back down. After a minute, Legolas turned his sharp blue eyes away.

"Would you rather have Aragorn or even Boromir be assigned as your guardian?" He spoke softly, all the anger in his voice had diminished almost entirely.

"No," Victoria whispered, "I would have rather I was assigned to be my own guardian. I can take care of myself, thanks."

She turned away from the elf, walked over to the wardrobe and grabbed a leather back pack from inside. "If Elrond wants you to be my guardian, then who am I to argue?" she reasoned aloud. She set the bag onto the edge of the bed, and began to pack her things, making a mental list, '_Hairbrush, water bottle, journal, pencils, socks…_'

She glanced over at the elf as he stood with an unreadable expression. "Don't you have to pack?" Victoria asked shortly, uncomfortable with his scrutiny.

"Make sure you are at the gates on time," was his only reply before he turned and left her room, shutting the door softly behind him.

Victoria was still contemplating over what she would need for the journey when a knock at the door interrupted her thoughts, an elf entered carrying a stack of clothes. Victoria recognised her at once, Arwen, daughter of Lord Elrond. She possessed striking poise and grace, and her dark wavy hair contrasted her fair skin and gentle grey eyes. Arwen's beauty was something that all three movies had failed to capture.

'_No wonder Aragorn fell in love with her_,' Victoria thought with a small smile.

"Greetings Lady Victoria, it is a privilege to finally meet you," she spoke softly.

"It's more of a privilege to meet _you,_ Lady Arwen."

Arwen's cheeked coloured slightly, "I searched for some garments for you to take. I could only find men's traveling clothes, so I had to tailor them a little so that they might fit better."

Victoria smiled at the woman in appreciation. "I was wondering what I should wear. I was afraid I was going to have to wear a dress the entire trip," she said with a little laugh, as she picked up she clothes and went into the bathroom to try them on.

The thick white shirt Arwen had found for her buttoned up the front, and went halfway down her thigh. The deep blue pants fit her like a second skin, needing only to be rolled up at the bottom to fit her legs.

Arwen laughed as she walked out to model her slightly oversized clothes, "Lucky I brought this," Arwen giggled, handing her a thin leather belt. An intricate swirl design ran along the length of it, adding detail to the plain outfit.

Next she tried on the boots Arwen gave her. The leather went just below the knee, and unlike the clothes, fit her perfectly. Lastly, Victoria tied the deep blue cloak around her shoulders, marvelling at it's velvety texture.

"Thank you so much," Victoria said gratefully.

"You are most welcome... My father says that you have come from far away, so far away… from a place so different to Arda, I can hardly believe such a place even exists, and yet here you stand. A bringer of knowledge to Middle Earth's darkest hour... Perhaps a goddess? A prophetess?" Arwen wondered aloud, staring at Victoria with awe and slight disbelief.

Victoria chuckled, "Um, I-I'm not a goddess, or a prophetess, I'm just a girl."

"Well so am I," Arwen exclaimed.

"Yeah, but your'e an elf, daughter of Lord Elrond and soon to be Queen of Gondor, that's so much more t-than… this," Victoria said, gesturing to herself.

"My father says you have much to offer, so much good that can be achieved through your knowledge, and I think that aswell, Arwen whispered, smiling warmly at her. "You are more important than you know."

Victoria smiled as she closed the lid of her backpack, slung it over her shoulder and made her way towards the door.

"What did you mean when you said 'Queen of Gondor'?" Arwen asked quietly, her forehead scrunching up into a small frown.

"Oh right, um, forget it, i-it doesn't matter…" Victoria replied quickly, realising her mistake, "Don't you have to see Aragorn?" She asked cheerfully.

The elven woman took Victoria's hands in her's, "good luck."

"Bye," Victoria breathed as she watched the elf swiftly leave the room, not making a sound.

She took a moment to glance around the room a final time, processing everything that had happened in the last 24 hours, wondering how it had come to this. She had finished all her assignments, and was planning a relaxing weekend of Doctor Who marathons and late morning starts, and now she was about to embark on what she thought would be the greatest adventure of her life. Reality dragged her away from daydreaming; how strange, usually she would be daydreaming about Middle Earth, but in this case the opposite was true, and in this case she was actually in Middle Earth! _'And I'm gonna travel with the Fellowship!'_ She thought eagerly. A bolt of excitement hit her straight in the gut as she clicked the door shut and walked silently to the gates of the city, teeming with anticipation.

It was late afternoon. The sun was high in the sky, yet the clouds blocked most of the sunlight from reaching the ground, turning the weather cool and calm. A crowd of elves dressed in flowing robes surrounded the gates to say their farewells as the Fellowship was already forming. Everyone was there except Legolas.

She twisted her head around in search of the elf, she eventually spotted him whispering to Elrond at the very far end of the group. Victoria had a pretty good idea what Legolas was talking to him about. '_The jerk still can't get over the fact that I'm going_,' she thought angrily.

Victoria was distracted from her anger when Gandalf approached her, he led her over to the Fellowship and introduced her to the hobbits.

She shook their hands politely, as they either grinned or gaped at her.

"You're going with us?" Pippin asked wide-eyed.

Merry elbowed him sharply, as Victoria giggled at Pippin's antics. She received an unwelcoming look from Boromir, and a firm handshake from Gimli.

"At least she's not an elf," he grumbled as he saw Legolas making his way towards them. The look he shot Gimli could've frozen water.

It seemed as though the only friendly person in the Fellowship was Aragorn, who smiled widely as he gently shook her hand. "Welcome to the Fellowship of the Ring, Lady Victoria. I look forward to us traveling together."

Victoria's eyes widened and felt heat rise to her cheeks, 'well maybe this trip won't be so bad…' she thought grinning.

Elrond strode up to the Fellowship, "The Ringbearer is setting out on the quest of Mount Doom. On you who go with him, neither oath nor bond is laid to go as further than you will." Elrond caught her eye, and smiled slightly before finishing his goodbyes, "Farewell. Hold to your purpose, and may the blessings of elves, men and all free folk go with you."

Gandalf turned towards the dark haired hobbit, who was at the front of the group, "The Fellowship awaits The Ringbearer."

Frodo slowly plodded through the gates looking tired and older than his years. Victoria glanced back at the great elven city one last time before following the Fellowship under the archway, left onto the dirt path, and into the wild.


	6. The Journey Begins

The Fellowship walked for hours, until Rivendell and the valley surrounding the city was no longer visible. The sound of waterfalls and rustling leaves were replaced by the gentle whistling of the wind, and Victoria soon found herself lagging behind. She stopped at the top of the hill they were currently climbing, trying to commit the view before her to memory.

The landscape was breathtaking, the sun was held high in the sky, while mountains loomed above the vast sea of hills that lay before the group of travellers. Despite the pounding heartbeat and burning legs, Victoria stood grinning at the incredible view.

"It's beautiful, yes?" Aragorn spoke from behind her. Victoria jumped, startled at the man's sudden appearance, then smiled.

"Yeah," she said quietly, wishing she had time to sketch the mountains in her notebook (which she packed for that very reason).

"Come," he urged, taking her by the arm, "We must continue."

Victoria allowed him to lead her down the hill and walked beside him silently as he let go of her arm. Aragorn was rough, manly, and extremely handsome, he didn't possess the grace and lithe of Legolas, but every move showed his strength.

_'And he looks damn good with that light beard,'_ Victoria thought with a wicked smile.

She stopped to pull some hair that had escaped back into her ponytail. She took a moment to admire her boots yet again, although her legs were aching and tired, her feet felt fine.

"Crap, Crap, CRAP." She muttered, realising she had fallen way behind the others. Jogging to catch up, the group had just come back into view when someone reached out and grabbed her arm. A small gasp escaped her lips before she realised it was Boromir.

Victoria eyed him cautiously; they hadn't said anything to each other, apart from a half-hearted greeting. She knew The Ring would manipulate him, and he would die with three arrows in his chest. Nevertheless, she would have to be very careful around him.

Boromir stared at her as if she had some kind of disease he might catch.

"Who are you?" He demanded shortly, "You do not belong here, are you a spy?"

Victoria tried to pull away, but his grip only tightened on her arm. "Let me go please." She whispered, trying to sound calm. "Your hurting my arm, let go." She repeated louder.

Boromir looked down at her like he had just realised she was there. "I- I apologise," he said, looking off balanced. "I don't know what came over me."

He dropped her arm and Victoria hurried back to the group, taking her place behind the hobbits. She saw Legolas' concerned face for a split second, then quickly turned away and continued to walk. She positioned herself as far away from Boromir as possible.

After another eternity of walking, Gandalf finally decided it was time to camp for the night. They made their way to a flat spot underneath a cluster of trees, just as the sun disappeared under the horizon. At this point Victoria was ready to collapse from exhaustion, she never enjoyed running or hiking, and definitely not for hours upon end. She untied her bedroll from Bill and spread it out on the soft earth a few meters away from the group. She laid down, stretching her tired muscles and pulled her velvet cloak over her as a blanket. Not wanting to disturb anyone or anyone to disturb her, she promptly fell asleep. 

Five days passed, they had finally reached the base of the Misty Mountains. They then turned south and made their way down the long path of rock and grass towards the Gap of Rohan. Victoria was surprised at how long it actually took them to reach the snow covered peaks, the movies made it seem like the journey was nothing, just a quick stroll.

Now she understood, this is real life, and real sore muscles. She had to face the truth of Middle Earth: it wasn't a book or a movie, you couldn't just fast forward the parts you didn't like, you had to work through them. "No stop or pause button either," she muttered to herself.

Just then Merry and Pippin approached her, breaking her trail of thoughts. Victoria growled slightly; the two hobbits had done nothing except ask her questions after leaving Rivendell. They were very curious about her home and spent most of the day interrogating her about it.

"What do you miss?" Pippin asked.

"My Dad."

"Is that it?" Merry piped up, disappointed with her short answer.

"Do you want a list?" Victoria asked sarcastically. Both hobbits nodded eagerly.

"Ok," she sighed, then took a minute to think. She missed so much of her home, of her world, so many little things she had taken for granted.

"I miss my Dad, my friends, my phone, my air-con, my internet, my phone, my music, my computer, dim sum, chocolate, pizza, I miss watching Doctor Who and modes of transport that don't involve me moving my feet." Victoria blurted out.

Merry and Pippin looked at her as if she had spoken another language, "I don't know what half those things are," Merry admitted quietly.

Victoria smiled, "And I'm not gonna explain them to you." she said, knowing their next question. She really wasn't in the mood for talking, but was trying to be polite and save her strength.

The hobbits took the hint and hurried to join Frodo and Sam at the front of the group, while Victoria gazed ahead at the never ending path. "How much longer until nightfall…" she asked herself quietly, knowing it was more than five hours away.


	7. The Birds

The days mixed together in a cloud of exhaustion as the Fellowship marched on with little rest. Victoria got to know everyone better; everyone except Boromir was friendly and talked with her. He was nice enough to everyone else- just not her. Even Legolas talked to her; although conversations with the elf only consisted of her asking a question and him answering, but it was an obvious improvement.

Merry and Pippin continued to bombard her with questions, making her explain every little thing from microwaves to mechanical pencils. Frodo and Sam spoke to her rarely, but mostly stuck together, preferring to speak amongst themselves. On the ninth day after starting their journey, they had just finished crossing a slow moving river, when the two hobbits asked her yet _another_ question.

"So what do you do for fun?" Pippin asked.

"Well, I like to draw, read, go shopping, or watch television."

"What's television?" Merry piped up.

"It's like a moving picture that tells a story. There are many movies and television shows in my world, all with different stories to tell." she explained.

"How do you make them?" Merry asked enthusiastically.

"Um…ok, first you have to take the idea of a story, then choose the way you want to make it. You can use a camera, which is sort of like a visual recorder, or animation. After that, you can put in sounds and voices, and then you can share the movie on a television." Victoria answered, trying to put the subject into it's simplest form.

"Wait, what's ain-ee-may-shun?" Pippin asked.

Now she was stuck. _'How do you explain computer generated images to a hobbit from another world, who has never even heard of electricity?' _Victoria thought about the question for a full two minutes. When she spoke again she had sat down, notebook in hand. The Fellowship had stopped for dinner and while Sam and Frodo prepared the stew, Victoria called Pippin and Merry over to her spot on the grass.

In her notebook, she had drawn one stick figure per page, each with a slightly different position. She flipped the pages with her thumb, making it look like the figure was moving. Merry and Pippin's faces lit up as if they were children who had just found a boatload of candy.

"And that's basically animation, you can draw whatever you want and make it _'come alive'_ in the movie." Victoria said, "That's what I do!"

Merry's expression turned from amazed to confused "Do for what?"

"For work; I have a job as an animator." she explained.

At this point the rest of the Fellowship had sat down next to the hobbits, and was listening to their conversation. Aragorn passed Victoria up a bowl of beef stew, and she was very thankful for it. A full day of non-stop trekking can really work up an appetite.

"You _work?!"_ Aragorn said, astounded.

"Yeah, just like everyone else in my world." she replied.

"Do you mean to tell us that _women_ in your world, have jobs?!" Legolas added, looking quite surprised.

"Yes, what's wrong with that?"

"It's improper." Legolas stated firmly.

Victoria was taken aback at this comment, _'How annoying can this elf get?'_ she felt like pouring the boiling hot stew she was holding, over his oh-so-perfect platinum hair. On the other hand, she didn't want to waste Sam's cooking, so she resorted to verbal attack instead.

"So it's improper for me to be on this quest with you guys, _working?" _she snapped, "No, it's not improper for a woman to work, if anything it's a good thing!"

Legolas cast his eyes down and continued to eat. Victoria did the same. There was an awkward few minutes of silence before Pippin finished his mouthful of food, and spoke up again.

"So what do you do with the money?" the hobbit asked.

"I pay bills," she stated simply, starting to get fed up.

"What are bills?" Merry spoke up.

Victoria explained them as simply as possible, feeling as if she was talking to two unruly children.

"Most of my money goes towards tuition and rent- Tuition is what you pay to have somebody teach you, and rent is what you pay to live in a house," she added as Pippin opened his mouth.

"Do you live on your own?" Pippin something.

"No, I have a flat-mate, John."

The look of shock on Legolas' face was almost comical. "You live with a man?! Are you married?"

Victoria laughed out loud, startling him. "Of course not! John is my best friend!" The scandalised look was still on his face, so she continued. "It's not like we share a room or anything, he has one bedroom, I have the other."

Legolas looked somewhat relieved. "Your world is very different to ours," he said quietly.

"You can say _that_ again, Greenleaf…" she muttered.

Merry and Pippin overheard Legolas' nickname, and spent the whole morning, until they stopped for lunch, questioning him about it. Victoria walked behind them grinning as she watched the elf's patience ware away rapidly. He shot her a poisonous look, making her smile even broader.

"So if one calls you Legolas Greenleaf, they are really saying Greenleaf, Greenleaf," Pippin realised in fascination.

Legolas closed his eyes in frustration, and Victoria could almost _hear_ him gritting his teeth.

"Or Legolas, Legolas," Merry pointed out.

Both hobbits appeared to get a kick out of that, and Victoria had to cover her mouth to keep a laugh from emerging. Legolas look precariously close to losing his calm.

'I guess even elves have a limit to how much they can tolerate,' Victoria thought with a chuckle, as she walked over to the two hobbits.

"I believe I heard Boromir mention something about more fighting lessons." she lied.

Merry and Pippin hurried off quickly to find the man, arguing over who would go first. Legolas took a deep breath and slowly let it out.

"Thanks," he grumbled, then walked over to find Gandalf.

Victoria had to fight to contain another laugh. _'He always manages to look handsome and composed, even when he's annoyed,'_ she realised as she walked over to help Sam with lunch. Today, it was sausages, bacon and potatoes, Sam's favorite. The hobbit looked up at her as she approached and smiled shyly. They sat down together quietly as the sausages and bacon sizzled in the pan.

"There is one thing I do not understand," Sam said softly.

Victoria looked over at him curiously; he wasn't one for asking questions. "What's that?"

Sam frowned, taking a minute to find the nerve to ask, as if he was regretting what he had said. "Well, aren't people looking for you?" he blurted out finally. "I mean, don't you think people will wonder where you are?"

Victoria studied the mountains in the distance. She didn't want to admit it, not even to herself, but felt compelled to tell him the truth. "I doubt it. I don't think anyone realises I'm gone."

She felt tears prick in the corner of her eyes, and hurried to continue. "The only people that will care that I'm gone are my coworkers, John, and my Dad."

She let out a small laugh. "I'm probably out of a job by now, and John probably thinks I went to see my brother. As for my dad, I know he isn't looking for me."

"I'm sure he misses you." Sam said soothingly.

Victoria shook her head. "He's depressed," she whispered. "After my Mom died of a mental breakdown, he's never been the same. He's actually getting worse, which is why I have to look after my brother sometimes."

"What about your brother, he misses you right?" the young hobbit asked.

"He can't, he's severely autistic. He doesn't have empathy or normal communication skills, it's a miracle I can get him to talk some days." Victoria replied quietly, as her heart sank to the floor.

"I'm sorry to hear that Lady Victoria," Sam whispered sympathetically.

"It's fine… Anyway, enough about me, what about you Mr Samwise Gamgee? I've always dreamed about visiting the Shire, what is it like?" She said happily, changing the subject.

Sam smiled broadly, "Well my lady, it's a lovely place to live. Vast fields filled with crops of every kind, carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, wheat… The houses are comfortable and quite spacious, as they are built inside of a hill… And there is a little pub called the Green Dragon down in the town square where they serve the best ale and smoking weed west of Bree. But the best part of living in the Shire is the autumn festivals, where Gandalf the wandering wizard comes every year to display his fireworks!"

At this point Victoria was peering off into the distance again, letting Sam's words burble in the background. Her gaze moved to Legolas who had leapt onto a boulder and appeared to be studying a small black cloud. That cloud seemed very familiar, and it was moving very fast.

"Oh my god!" She cried out, jumping to her feet quickly. She had forgotten all about the birds.

"Quick! Hide!" she yelled at the men, grabbing her backpack off the ground and attempting to smother the fire.

The entire group turned and stared at her.

"The birds! Spies of Saruman," she cried in frustration. 'Why aren't they doing anything?' she wondered frantically.

"The birds!" she tried again, "Oh what the hell are they called?!"

"Crebain from Dunland!" Legolas cried out from his perch on the boulder.

Suddenly, everyone around her sprang into action. "Hide!" Aragorn shouted.

"Oh, _now_ they hide," Victoria muttered to herself.

She was searching for a place to hide when someone grabbed her and roughly pulled her under a bush. Her head collided with the corner of a rock as Legolas shoved her to the ground. Victoria lay silent beside him as she watched the birds fly over, screeching and squawking. Legolas spun his head back around and looked at her sharply, his lips curled down into a frown and his eyes narrowing.

"You knew about the birds?" Spoken in a deadly whisper, anger and doubt clouded his once light eyes. He jumped up and pulled her out from underneath the bushes before she had a chance to reply.

"Did you know?" He asked again, not even bothering to help her up as she sat there in the dirt.

Victoria nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

"If you knew, why did you not warn us sooner?" Legolas demanded, glaring down at her.

"I forgot," she whispered, feeling like a child who had just been scolded.

"Be sure it doesn't happen again." Legolas snapped, and then abruptly walked away.

Victoria buried her face in her hands, angry with herself for forgetting such an important event. _'That's the whole reason I'm here,'_ she thought. _'I'm supposed to make this trip easier, not adding to the problems.'_

She took a deep breath and glanced around at the Fellowship. The hobbits were eating again, chatting as if nothing happened. Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli stood together talking quietly. She saw the men glance up at the mountain behind them and knew they were talking about the Pass of Caradahas. Victoria stood up and walked away from the group, hoping to have a few minutes alone, possibly to finish the drawing of Pippin and Merry she was working on. She rounded a cluster of rocks and collided directly with Boromir.

"S-sorry," she apologised quickly, moving away from the man. Any attempt in escape was lost as he grabbed her arms tightly.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner about the birds?" he growled.

"I-I forgot," she stammered, petrified by the hateful look in his eye.

"You are a spy!" he continued, this time almost shouting.

"No, I'm not." she assured him.

"If I find out that you are," his expression turning even angrier, "I will not hesitate to slit your throat."

Victoria let out a little whimper of fear, knowing deep down that he was serious.

"Release her, Boromir," came a wonderfully familiar voice from behind.

She turned and breathed a huge sigh of relief as she saw Legolas standing there. Victoria would never thought she'd be so gal to see the elf.

"Can you not see that she is a spy Legolas?" Boromir asked.

"Spy or not, she is my responsibility. Now release her." Legolas replied calmly.

Boromir grudgingly let her arm go and she walked back over to Legolas, and for once was glad he had been forced to protect her.

"You speak with your heart, not your head Prince," Boromir snapped.

Victoria saw the elf's expression stiffen. "She is not your responsibility," he repeated evenly before Boromir stomped off.

Once he was out of sight, Legolas turned towards her, looking her up and down for injuries.

"Are you hurt?" he asked softly, reaching up and lightly brushing the small cut on her forehead.

"No," she whispered, flinching away from his touch.

"It's not a deep cut," he assured her, leaning in closer to inspect it.

"I said I'm fine," she snapped, he head beginning to throb with pain. "Sorry…" she muttered, seeing the concerned look on his face. "We'd better get back to the group."

Legolas just gave her a curt nod and both were silent as they walked back.

"Let us hope the Pass of Caradahas is an easy one," Gandalf said as they set out towards the mountains.

Victoria sighed, knowing it would be.


	8. A Meeting in the Dark

I was in a forest, by myself. It was dusk, and the trees rustled lightly as the moon shone in the deep blue sky. I was tempted to lie down on the soft earth and fall asleep in this relaxing atmosphere; but an unknown force pushed me forward until I was meandering amongst the trees. As I walked, the shadows became darker, the warm air became colder, the leaves underfoot became sharper. I stopped, the forest had turned silent. I knew enough about nature to know that it never stops moving and it never stops changing and it's _never_ silent. There suddenly came a voice, sinister and merciless, I couldn't make out what it was saying. It sounded like a different language.

This was starting to creep me out, I spun around in every direction searching for some kind of answer or escape.

"Who's there?" I asked cautiously. "Who's there?!" I shouted, but all I was returned with was the echo of my own voice.

I turned around again, looking for someone, anyone. Legolas? Aragorn? Instead, I looked down at the ground to find that it was snowing. White, perishingly cold powder flew into my face and swirled around me until the wind picked up and turned the snow into a blizzard. The wind screamed and the soft snow became slits of ice, cutting into my skin. Another wave of ice hit me, it felt as if a million swords had dug themselves into my chest, and I fell down onto my knees in agony. I cried out, the words hardly left my lips before they withered up and fell into the air.

I looked up to find that I wasn't in the forest, I was on some kind of mountain. The wind was deafening and harsh, yet I could still hear a faint voice, "Victoria."

A loud crack was sounded, and as I looked up to see where the noise came from, large clumps of ice came crashing down right on top of me, crushing my body. Darkness closed in, but I could still hear a voice, raspy and terrifying.

"Victoria."

She sat bolt upright in her bed, her eyes desperately searching for her unknown enemy, but it wasn't there. Victoria was safe in the camp with the Fellowship. She collapsed back onto her pillow and let out a long breath to try and calm herself down. She was shaking, and her body was covered in a light sheen of sweat. Just breathe... In…and out…In…and out…

Victoria sat up and glanced round to see the group of sleeping hobbits in the far corner of the forest clearing. _'They're so peaceful.'_ she thought with a smile. Gimli however, was making a noise that resembled a foghorn. Quietly chuckling, she slipped on her boots and rose to her feet. She urgently needed to clear her mind from the remnants of the dream and moved as quietly as possible away from the group, hoping not to wake anyone up.

Aside from her own noisy breath there was nothing to be heard and the woods were simply too dark to see much at all. Black trunks against an almost black backdrop didn't make for much too see and her imagination began to supply horrors to fill the void. Faceless shadows and branches that stuck out like spikes started to infiltrate her mind where they were then twisted into monsters. At that point she decided to turn back, it seemed like a stupid idea to continue walking and get lost in the middle of the night. She didn't want to admit it, even to herself, but she was starting to get a bit frightened.

She picked up her pace for about five minutes until she came across a clearing that had a spectacular view of the moon. All she could do was look up, unable to take her eyes off what was above her. Victoria sat down, her back leaning against a boulder and tilted her head up.

The never ending blackness consumed everything, except the stars that stood out like pebbles in front of a storm. She was overwhelmed by the sheer amount that filled the sky. The moon took the spotlight as the stars danced and twinkled like diamonds. Ever enduring these shone as the inky sky cowered to the background of the cosmic stage. It made Victoria feel small and irrelevant amidst the grand performance, a feeling she liked very much. It felt like she could simply melt away and forget everything as she marvelled at the skies above.

The stars here were so different from Earth, she couldn't find Orion's Belt or even the Southern Cross. She wondered if she was still even in the milky way galaxy, "I could be on the other side of the universe... or in a different universe altogether!" She whispered with a smile. It felt so strange; she had never paid much attention to the night sky on Earth. Because of all the city lights there was nothing to see anyway, but here in Middle Earth it was so clear, so...beautiful.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, alerting her to the fact that someone, or something, was watching her. Quickly jumping to her feet, Victoria spun around and let out a small scream when she saw Legolas standing only a few meters away.

"What the hell?!" she spluttered, "you nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"What are you doing so far away from the group?" He asked sternly.

The fear and shock Victoria was feeling quickly turned into anger, "What are you doing sneaking up on me in the middle of the night?!"

"I was not sneaking up on you," he spat.

Victoria turned and sat back down against the boulder, wishing the elf would leave her in peace.

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" she hissed, trying to persuade him to leave.

"Elves do not require sleep... I thought that you were aware of this?" Legolas asked with a slightly confused look.

"Well I do know things about your world, but not _every_ _single thing_ about it." she explained.

"Why did you run off?" He asked.

"I wasn't running off, I was just walking around for a bit, or am I not allowed a bit of freedom?"

"You could have gotten hurt. My duty is to protect you, and I cannot do this when you wander."

"Sorry," Victoria said as she looked away from him.

"Tomorrow we start the climb up the mountain, you should rest."

"Can I stay for a bit longer?" She asked hopefully.

Hesitantly, the elf walked over to the boulder and sat down next to Victoria and leaned against the rock, legs stretched out in front of him.

"I'll take that as a yes," she muttered.

After a few incredibly quiet minutes passed, and Victoria's mind began to circle back to the topic of astronomy.

"I was wondering," she blurted out suddenly, making Legolas jump, "do you guys have constellations here?"

"Yes, we do," he replied as he began searching for his favorite constellation, seven large stars all connected into the shape of a man holding a sword.

"There," he said, pointing to a large cluster in the west, "that is Menelmacar."

"Menelmacar?" Victoria repeated.

His lips twitched into a small smile and continued, "sometimes known as the Swordsman of the Sky, it represents Turin Turambar and was one of the early constellations created by-"

"Varda... right?" She exclaimed. Legolas nodded in confirmation.

"And that one?" Victoria asked, pointing to a slightly smaller patch of light in the north.

"That is Anarrima, created just before the awakening of the elves by using the dewdrops from Telperion..." he looked back at her and waited for her to finish the explanation.

"One of the Two Trees of Valinor," she answered boldly.

"Yes, correct," he said with a chuckle.

"Who taught you all this?"

"My mother…" Legolas admitted with downcast eyes that now looked more grey than blue. He suddenly snapped his head up and locked onto Victoria's slightly concerned gaze, eyes shining once more. "What about you? Who taught you the history of our stars all the way from another world?"

A smile reappeared on her lips, "well, there was this famous guy called Proffeser Tolkien, he wrote about the history of Valinor and Middle Earth; the War of Wrath, the fall of Gondolin, the Battle of the Five Armies, everything! Even the War of the Ring!"

Alarm spread across Legolas' face, "are you saying that there will be a war?!" he asked seriously.

Victoria sighed, "yeah… unfortunately."

Legolas gazed at her doubtfully and shifted uncomfortably in his spot. An awkward silence sat in the cool night air for a full minute. Victoria glanced up at him as he sat like a statue come to life, his expression was unreadable.

He leaned in towards her untill his voice lowered to a whisper, "we should return to the camp."

She nodded and reluctantly stood up to follow him back to the campsite. Everyone was still asleep, thank goodness. She sat down on her bed roll, and craned her neck to see a silhouette making it's way back to the opposite side of the clearing. Legolas muttered a few words which she was just able to hear. She rolled onto her back, closed her deep brown eyes, and let his words mull over in her head, "Sleep well, Lady Victoria."

And she did.


	9. The Pass of Caradhras

They set off early next morning, and spent the whole day trudging through the snow as they climbed higher up the mountain. The temperature was had reached way below zero, and that didn't take into account the wind. It was a killing freeze, the kind that made it painful to breathe. Victoria hated the cold, she had always been used to the tropical climates of Australia. Oh how she wished she could just say a word and be magically whisked off the mountain to someplace warm.

And of course, Frodo somehow misplaced the Ring. Victoria watched anxiously as Boromir held the Ring, pulling him deeper into Sauron's spell. Tensions ran high, and when Boromir eventually gave the Ring back to Frodo, the tension lessened from palpable to an unpleasant buzz.

After another few hours of trudging, Victoria started to pay less and less attention to her surroundings. Her mind was too focused on the upcoming events of the Fellowship. She was at a complete loss of what to do. One part wanted to tell Gandalf or even Legolas about Saruman's plans to bring down the mountain on them. The other part wanted her to keep quiet. 'Boromir isn't the only one who doesn't trust you' she reminded herself. She knew that her warnings might be twisted around to make her look like she was trying to sabotage the journey. 'Maybe it's better to just let things play out on their own.' She fought with herself. 'Of course' she countered 'Legolas will be angry at me if he finds out I knew and didn't tell him.' It seemed hopeless either way.

The snow whipped around the group like a blizzard, slowing everyone except Legolas. Victoria couldn't get over how graceful he looked, gliding over the snow effortlessly. The wind stung her face as she raised her eyes, catching a glimpse of him at the front of the group, talking with Gandalf. Or really, yelling at Gandalf over the noise of the wind.

She had known from the moment she woke up that morning what she must do. She had to tell Legolas about the avalanche. He had to warn him somehow, even if he didn't believe her. She was tired of playing games; it was time to be honest. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, it bothered her that he didn't trust her.

"No time like the present," she muttered, lifting her head in determination just as a strong just of wind caught the hood of her cloak. The snow slapped against her face as she unsuccessfully tried to pull it back over her head, her frozen fingers unable to grasp the velvet material. She turned and tried to grab it, feeling like a dog chasing after it's tail.

A hand clamped down on her shoulder, stopping her in the middle of her second turn. She looked up and was surprised to find Legolas in front of her, his eyes dancing with amusement.

"What are you doing?" He asked, looking very much as if he wanted to laugh.

"My fingers…I can't put my hood back on," she said lamely.

His lips twitched. "Why did you take it off in the first place?"

"I didn't, the wind…" she mumbled, suddenly realising he was teasing her. If it wasn't so damn cold, Victoria was sure she would've laughed.

"You might stay warmer if you keep it on," he said grinning as he reached behind her and gently pulled the hood over her head.

"Wait," she called as he began to walk away, "I need to talk to you."

Legolas turned back to face her, surprised at her words, "I am listening."

"I don't know how to say this," she whispered, biting her lower lip nervously. Well, the obvious approach seems like a good idea. "Saruman is going to try to bring down the mountain on us and we will have to travel back down the mountain into-"

"What are you talking about?" he asked sharply, cutting her off.

"Saruman is going to try to bring down the mountain on us and we will have to travel back down the mountain into Mines of Moria." She repeated slowly, feeling like an idiot.

"I heard you the first time," he said quickly, looking at her in bewilderment, "What I meant was, how, exactly did you come by this information?"

"I know the future, I thought I already told you that," she pointed out.

He stared at her for a full thirty seconds, doubt written all over his face. "I see," he muttered, then turned back and walked away.

'He doesn't believe me!' she realised as she watched him leave. Anger started to boil inside her, building pressure until she could hold it in no longer.

"Legolas!" She yelled, suddenly furious. The elf turned, confused at her outburst.

"Legolas you are such an ASS!" she screamed, "I am here because I know the future of the Fellowship, and yet I tell you and you refuse to believe me. Tell me Prince, what the hell am I here for then?"

He opened his mouth to speak but she cut him off. "It can't be here because I'm wanted here," she continued, lowering her voice slightly. "It's perfectly clear that I'm not. So why am I here?"

"Are you and Boromir planning together, seeing who can make me feel the least welcomed?"

"What?" he asked, suddenly feeling lost.

"Don't play dumb, Elf." she snapped.

"I do not know what you are talking about," he said with a frustrated sigh, "I can assure you that Boromir and I are not conspiring together."

"I am sorry I do not believe you," he went on quietly, "but I tend to think more rationally about such matters, and looking into the future is not rational."

He glanced up at the mountain. "Furthermore," he continued after a pause, "I am sorry if we…If I… have made you feel unwelcome. I do not think you are stupid."

"But you think I am irrational," she stated calmly, no longer angry.

"No…not you," he said slowly, trying to decide how to word his feelings. "Seeing into the future."

Victoria looked down at her hands, unsure of what to say or believe.

Legolas stared down at her, emotion bright in his eyes. "Why did you tell me this?" He asked quietly. "What did you expect me to do?"

Victoria closed her eyes, struggling with the questions. She didn't want to tell him the truth, she didn't want to make herself vulnerable, but it seemed she had no choice.

"I told you because I trust you," she said finally, looking up to meet his gaze. "I hoped you would trust me enough to believe what I said. Saruman will bring the mountain down on us, you have to tell Gandalf and make us turn around."

Legolas' blue eyes bore into hers, searching for the truth. He took a step towards her and opened his mouth to speak when a voice interrupted.

"What's the hold up?" Gimli yelled from ahead of them.

"I will talk to Gandalf." Legolas said quietly, ignoring the dwarf. "I will try to persuade him to turn around."

Victoria's head snapped up at his words and opened her mouth to speak, but he had already disappeared into the swirling snow.

By the time Victoria had caught up with the rest of the group, she knew it was too late. Call it intuition; call it a hunch, but she knew. The ledge they stood on looked dreadfully familiar. 'Any minute now, Saruman would strike the mountain with lightning, burying us all in snow, and I'm helpless to stop it.' Victoria thought, dreaded the inevitable.

Legolas, who had been standing at the head of the group arguing with Gandalf, abruptly stopped. He walked out onto the edge of the mountain and squinted up into the blinding snow.

"There is a fell voice on the air," he said suddenly. Victoria could practically see his mind working like clockwork, registering what she had just warned him about.

"It' Saruman!" Gandalf cried in realisation.

Just then, huge boulders of snow fell from the top of the mountain, nearly hitting the group and sending snow dust up into the air, blocking their vision and making it harder to breathe than it already was.

"He's trying to bring down the mountain!" Aragorn yelled over the howling wind. "Gandalf, we must turn back!"

"No!" Gandalf cried, climbing onto the ledge next to Legolas. Obviously, he hadn't paid attention to the elf's warnings. He started chanting loudly in a language Victoria didn't recognise, clearly challenging Saruman. Her eyes darted around desperately, feeling herself begin to panic. There was nothing she could do; no way of stopping the avalanche or at least getting the Fellowship out of harm's way. Victoria decided in that terrible moment that she hated knowing the future.

She looked at Legolas pleadingly, begging him to do something, anything. Their gazes met, she saw the look of bewilderment in his clear blue eyes and knew it was too late. She hadn't been able to stop it, and neither could Legolas. A few seconds later, a bright bolt of lightning struck the mountainside above them with a deafening crack.

Victoria looked up in time to see chunks of snow and rock falling straight towards them, and wished she hadn't looked. She barely had enough time to cover her face with her arms before she was knocked on her back by the force of the avalanche. It smashed her, buried her, trapping her in an icy tomb. It instantly knocked the air from her weakened lungs and, panicked, she realised she couldn't move or breathe. She tried moving her legs and arms in an attempt to kick the snow off and reach out, but the snow was too heavy on top of her, and it was suffocating her. The world began to turn fuzzy at the edges and she felt herself slipping away- slowly losing consciousness.

Victoria was only vaguely aware of strong hands grabbing her and pulling her out of the snow. The cold mountain wind made it's way into her open mouth and her eyes flew open as she gasped for breath, she saw Legolas leaning over her, his blue eyes wild.

"Are you hurt?" He asked in a shaky voice, helping her sit up.

"No, I'm alright," she squeaked, trying to get her breath back. "Is everyone else ok?" she asked with a cough.

"I believe so," he whispered, and scanned her for injuries. Aragorn made his way over to them, ploughing a deep trail through the huge pile of snow. His eyes quickly looked her up and down in the same manner that Legolas' had, and he gave her a relieved smile.

"I'm glad that everyone is not hurt, it has been decided that we must travel back down the mountain and into the Mines."

Legolas gave the man a short nod and watched as he trudged through the snow, back towards the group. After a minute, he turned to Victoria, looking intent.

"I apologise," he asked quietly, watching her reaction closely.

Her eyebrows shot up and she blinked her large hazel eyes confusion. "For what?"

"For not believing what you told me."

"Oh, apology accepted," Victoria said with a small sigh, "And thank you."

"For What?" Legolas asked, his turn to look surprised.

"For saving my life," she whispered, shuddering as she remembered how close she had come to dying.

"You are most welcome Lady Victoria," Legolas replied.

Victoria stood quickly, uncomfortable with the honesty of the conversation. Dizziness swept over her like a wave and she stumbled, landing on her knees in the wet snow. She massaged her temples and blinked several times until her swimming vision returned to normal. She looked up and was shocked to find Legolas kneeling in front of her, his face mere inches from her own.

"Put your hands around my neck," he demanded, his voice smooth and mesmerising.

Victoria slipped her hands around him, too surprised to argue.

He scooped her up and effortlessly rose to his feet. "I will carry you until the snow thins out," he stated, ignoring the question in her eyes. He turned and began to follow the group back down the mountain, looking calm and collected.

Victoria on the other hand, was a ball of tangled nerves. She literally had to force her gaping mouth closed and tear her eyes away from his face. 'He's just being nice,' she reminded herself, 'Or maybe it's because of the whole almost dying thing,' she tried to reason with herself, failing miserably. Her mind kept replaying the moment he picked her up over and over again. He had moved so fast, she hadn't known he was reaching for her until he felt his arms slip under her knees and his other arm rested against her back.

He carried her across the ghost white snow and over the icy terrain as if she had weighed more than a sack of feathers. 'He can carry me and still manage to be graceful,' she realised, trying to ignore how close she was to him. Every step he took reminded her of how strong his arms were, and pressed her more firmly against his chest.

Feeling a blush rising to her cheeks , she buried her head in his soft tunic and forced herself to relax. 'Just close your eyes,' she told herself, 'Relax'

Victoria had never been one to stay awake long once her eyes were closed, and sure enough, five minutes later, she was asleep.

'I hope I don't snore,' she thought calmly.


	10. Promises

Legolas lowered his head to the side as he stared down at the woman in his arms. He smiled slightly as she let out a low snore. She had fallen asleep almost immediately after he had begun to carry her, and he didn't believe she would be waking anytime soon. She shivered in her sleep, and Legolas instinctively pulled her closer to him, attempting to warm her freezing body. With slight difficulty he tucked her cloak back tighter around her legs and took the opportunity to stare down at her freely.

She looked so peaceful as she slept; blissfully unaware of everything that was going on around her while she wandered through her dreams. Her deep blonde hair, initially tied in a side-braid, now hung loose and clung to her cheeks with moisture. Legolas fought the urge to tuck the stray pieces behind her ears with his fingers. He was startled at how drawn he was to her; never before had he taken such notice of a human woman, now she was all he thought about.

She was a puzzle, an enigma. She used bizarre language, and spoke in a blunt, unladylike way. The clothes she wore were a man's clothing, yet she wore them more comfortably than she wore a dress. She behaved like a man, and cursed like a man, but the unintentional sway of her hips and her light, feminine laugh betrayed her as definitely a woman.

Ever since he had seen her in the woods- lost and alone- she hadn't been far from his thoughts. Overall, he was uncertain of how he felt about her. Victoria. Such a bizarre name, such a bizarre woman. _'No, not bizarre,'_ he thought, trying to think of a better word to describe her. _'Interesting, fascinating, surprising.'_ All three fit.

Legolas couldn't imagine how she must feel, away from her world, stuck with four hobbits, two men, a wizard, a dwarf and him. He knew he had not made her journey any easier and she probably wished Aragorn, not him, had been chosen as her protector.

Most of all, Legolas did not feel like himself and it shook him to the core. He had always prided himself on knowing what to say, even if he hardly spoke. He possessed his mother's internal sense of grace and until recently had not known how awkwardness felt. In addition, he had never second-guessed his feelings before until now, until _her._

Legolas was still pondering this when Aragorn approached him, breaking his thoughts.

"Do you need a rest?" he asked, motioning to Victoria. "I will take her if you do."

"I can manage," Legolas said shortly. Seeing the ranger's confused look, he added, "Elves do not tire as easily as humans."

Aragorn gave him a knowing smile, "I understand," he said, walking away. Legolas sighed to himself. His eyes flicked up towards the front of the group, and then towards the horizon. It was brighter and calmer than yesterday's blizzard, but the sun's rays weren't enough to affect the wind which was still perishingly cold. Legolas looked down at the strange, yet compelling woman he was carrying and vowed not to think about her anymore. He failed.

Victoria opened her eyes slowly and was immediately aware of two things: One, Legolas was still carrying her, and two, he was staring down at her rather intensely. Intensely enough to make her uncomfortable. She shifted, trying to put some distance between their bodies and politely cleared her throat.

"Um, how long have I been asleep?" she managed.

Legolas blinked and snapped his head up, looking straight ahead, "several hours."

"Holy shit!" she muttered in awe, "you've been carrying me for several _hours_?"

"Yes," Legolas said, trying not to let his amusement show.

"Well aren't you tired?" Victoria knew that elves were stronger than humans, but this was insane.

"No," he said with a small grin. "You are light."

'_Well, I have lost weight since this trip began… something about hardly eating and walking a million kilometres a day,' _she said to herself.

Legolas couldn't help but tease her, "you were snoring again though," he trailed off as she looked down in mortification.

'_Do I really snore?'_ she wondered frantically. "I haven't been carried since I was 15," she said, trying to steer the conversation away from that embarrassing topic.

"By whom?" Legolas asked, finally looking down at her again. "A beau?"

Victoria laughed boldly. "A beau? Like a boyfriend? Hell no," she chuckled, "get your head out of the gutter, Greenleaf."

Legolas gave her a confused look, "Why would my head be in a gutter?" he asked seriously.

Victoria couldn't stop the smile that rose on her lips. "It's an expression, it means stop thinking dirty thoughts."

"There are alot of weird expression like that from where I come from," she reasoned aloud.

"Like holy shit?" Legolas asked with a playful smirk.

Victoria felt her eyebrows shoot up, way up. She could not believe that he had just said that, she was surprised that she was talking to her at all, let alone joking around with her.

She grinned wickedly. "Do they have an elvish word for that?" she asked, and was shocked and pleased to hear him laugh. It was a true laugh, a beautiful laugh, it lit up his whole face. It made him glow.

"You should laugh more often." she whispered without thinking.

His face immediately turned serious again. "Why did your father carry you?" he asked.

Victoria closed her eyes, remembering that day so long ago. They had been at the park and she was climbing a very tall oak tree, she had slipped and fallen, breaking her leg when she landed on the ground. "I got hurt," she whispered. "My dad carried me to the car and complained that I weighed a ton." She smiled sadly at the memory.

"I am sorry if my questioning has upset you," Legolas apologised quickly, noting the look of sadness in her eyes.

"It hasn't, it's ok," she assured him. "I think I can walk now," she added boldly, feeling as if she had taken up too much of the elf's time.

Wordlessly, he stopped walking and set her down on her feet. The ground was no longer snowy, but more rocky and jagged.

"Thanks for carrying me Legolas," she whispered as her eyes met his.

"You are welcome, Lady Victoria" the elf replied slowly before walking off to join the front of the group.

Darkness swiftly took the sun's place in the sky, dragging the temperature down to make it even colder, if that was possible. As soon as dinner was prepared, the Fellowship huddled around the fire to eat and keep warm. Nobody spoke for a long time, even the hobbits were too cold to ask questions. Victoria glanced across the fire at Legolas. He looked so mysterious sitting there- flames dancing over his handsome face. She looked away before he could catch her staring and tried to think of something to say to break the silence.

"Who was Lothriel?" She asked suddenly, surprising herself with the question.

Both Legolas and Aragorn's heads snapped up, but it was Gandalf who spoke. "Why do you ask?"

Everyone turned their eyes to her, waiting for her answer.

"Elrond mentioned something about her," she said as her mind flicked back to the discussion she had with Elrond when she arrived in Rivendell. He was boring her to death with his questions and she had started to vague out when she heard him say the name. Lothriel. It had been playing in the back of her mind ever since.

"She was an elf." Gandalf paused for a long moment, studying her closely in the firelight. "I think someone might mistake _you _for an elf, if they did not know you."

Victoria peered over at the wizard, wondering if he had maybe gone crazy. "You mean before they heard me speak or saw me walk?"

Gimli snorted, "Aye lass, you aren't very graceful." The dwarf said in a chuckle. "Who is this elf lady? Not that I care to know," he hastened to add.

Aragorn cleared his throat and looked up into the starless sky, his serious demeanour quieting the group.

"Lothriel and her husband Eldamar lived in Lothlórien with their only child. Lothriel was the only sister to Galadriel, the Lady of Lothlórien. Long years ago the couple were attacked by a band of orcs as they were travelling to Mirkwood. Some believed the orcs were sent to ambush the elves; to kill them."

"Or take the child." Victoria thought out loud.

Aragorn nodded in agreement and continued. "Many elves died during the battle, including Lothriel and Eldamar. The child's body was never found."

"So the orcs took it?" Victoria asked, grimacing at the thought of those monsters with the child. She wrapped her cloak tighter around her shivering body. "It would be better off dead than to have it in the hands of those filthy creatures."

"Plus," Victoria added, feeling compelled to continue, "If the child were found alive, it would have to grow up without parents; having to live it's entire life mindful of their deaths."

"Not knowing your parents is like having a hole in your heart," she whispered.

Aragorn was taken aback by the at the depth of sadness in her voice. "Do you suffer this loss?" He asked kindly.

Victoria sighed. "No, I have parents which are still alive… Well my mum died a while back when I was a teenager, but when she was alive, she and my dad never spent any time with me. Always busy with therapy for my brother. It was like I was living in a house filled with ghosts."

She cut herself off at that point, and prayed that someone would change the subject. Legolas stared across the fire at her, looking puzzled. He hadn't spoken a word the entire conversion, and now opened his mouth to talk. He abruptly snapped it shut as Sam cleared his throat.

"Didn't you say that your dad was still alive?" _Obviously,_ it wasn't cold enough to not ask questions.

Victoria groaned inwardly, she really didn't want to go down 'Memory Lane' at this point, or at any point.

"He is Sam. He is with my brother at the momen-"

"Why did your brother need therapy when he was younger?" Merry interrupted.

Literally biting back a scream of annoyance, Victoria told them. "My brother has to get therapy because he is autistic, a kind of-"

"What does that mean?" Merry asked.

"Is it bad?" Pippin added.

Both hobbits opened their mouths to ask another question, but were silenced by Legolas.

"Let her tell her story." He said firmly. Victoria felt a rush of gratitude for him and her annoyance of the hobbits lessened slightly.

"So," Victoria continued quickly, "My younger brother has to have therapy to help his autism- a kind of mental issue that prevents you from communicating normally," she added, mostly for the hobbit's sake. "Unfortunately, the therapy did nothing and my mum had a nervous breakdown… By the time I was 17, she got a heart attack and…died," she said hesitantly.

"After that, I moved to England while my dad took care of my brother, but he started drinking and I noticed the signs of depression when I visited him. Every time I visit he has been getting worse."

"Any more questions?" she finished, a little cross at baring so much personal information to her companions.

"You moved out by yourself, and your father allowed this?" Boromir asked, unable to hold his tongue.

Annoyance flared up again, and Victoria shot him a piercing look. "Yes, Boromir, my dad was perfectly fine with it." she stated plainly as the group handed back their bowls to Sam for him to clean.

"But a woman should not live on her own, especially with the danger of orcs and goblins; how would you defend yourself without a man with you?" He asked, dumbfounded.

Victoria let out a small laugh, trying to perk up the otherwise irritating and depressing conversation.

"There aren't any orcs or goblins in my world, in fact, there aren't any elves or wizards or dwarfs or hobbits either, just us humans. And, um, even if there were orcs, I'm pretty sure I could take care of myself," she answered cheerfully, attempting not to turn any interaction with Boromir into a conflict.

"Humans are also dangerous, and you have never been trained for battle, you would be extremely vulnerable… I do not understand why your father would let you move away to a different kingdom with so many risks."

Victoria, seething with freshly boiled anger, clamped her mouth shut. _'He'll shut up in a minute, just don't say anything you won't forgive yourself for later.' _She took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, draining away some of her temper. Boromir unfortunately didn't stop his rambling, it was as if he was purposely antagonising her.

Gandalf, noticing Victoria was about to blow a gasket, called the conversation to an end. "I think it is late enough, you should all be getting some rest, I shall take the first watch."

The group started to disperse away from the fire and walk over to their respective bedrolls. Victoria was among the first to get up and leave, but Gandalf called out to her, "Not you my dear, I would most enjoy your company, if that is alright."

She turned around, half surprised, half baffled, _'Ok, what. Gandalf never talks to me, he either wants to talk about something incredibly important, or he just smoked way too much weed,'_ she said to herself before plopping herself down on the boulder next to him. She shifted around awkwardly until finally deciding to look up at the wizard beside her. He was shorter in stature than she had pictured him; but his long, sweeping silver beard, and his broad shoulders, made him look like some wise king. In his aged face under great snowy brows were his eyes, set in like soft, pale orbs that could turn and strike you down with only a glare. Gandalf himself was more than just an old man with magic spells and a pointy hat.

They silently examined the fire in front of them for a few minutes before Gandalf was certain they weren't going to be overheard, "You know our future," he stated, getting straight to the point.

"Yep."

He turned and bent his head closer, "then you must promise not to tell anyone."

It took a couple of seconds for her to realise the issue with this, and drew her eyebrows together in a frown, "What?! I can't do _that_! _That_ is the whole reason I am here!"

Gandalf nodded his head and sighed, "Then you must at least no tell _anyone_ about my death."

Her mouth literally fell open, "You know?!" she nearly shouted while everyone in the camp stirred slightly.

"Quiet," Gandalf hissed, giving her a stern and piercing look.

"Yes, I know," he continued once he was again, certain that no one was listening. "And I know that I will come back stronger, that is why you mustn't tell anyone, for they will only interfere if they tried to protect me."

A million thoughts flooded her head; she knew that the entire Fellowship would be furious with her if they knew that she knew and didn't tell them. It put her right back in the same position as before. Ugh, great…

"Alright," she said finally. "I won't tell anyone about your…um… you know." She really wasn't comfortable talking to the wizard about his own death.

Gandalf rose to his feet whilst leaning on his wooden staff and gave her a fatherly pat on the shoulder. "Don't worry, he will forgive you."

She looked up at him just as he was turning away to see a friendly smile appear on his lips. Victoria smiled back and watched him stride over to the far corner of the camp, sit down, and pull out his smoking pipe once again.

Victoria stood up herself and quietly walked to her bedroll that was spread out on top of a particularly soft patch of grass, which she found to be quite comfortable for a change. As she pulled off her boots and laid down on her back to sleep, she stared at the trees above her, still deep in thought. 'Who did he mean by _'He will forgive you', did he mean one of the hobbits? They're pretty attached to Gandalf, but what about Boromir? He's just bad tempered altogether so he won't forgive me for anything I do… What about Legolas? Did he mean Legolas?'_


	11. Happenings in the Night

Victoria awoke several hours later, shivering from the cold and desperately needing to pee. She stood up and scanned the camp, there was little to no movement except for the steady rise and fall of the Fellowship's chests. No one appeared to be awake, but she still tiptoed past the sleeping bodies, further into the forest. Cold, sharp rocks pressed into the bottoms of her feet and she cursed herself for not slipping on her boots.

"Ow," she growled, muttering to herself as she walked. Finally, she reached a large clump of boulders and found one to hide behind. After she finished her business, she started to walk back to the camp when the sound of rushing water reached her ears.

'Is that a waterfall or something?' she thought, still half asleep. She looked over her shoulder up at the campsite, no one moving, no one awake. She definitely didn't want to receive another lecture from Legolas about wandering off in the middle of the night again, but her curiosity took over, 'I'll be back in a minute anyway.' She turned around and walked further downhill, keeping her eyes on her feet to make sure she didn't trip over anything like an idiot. The farther she walked, the louder the sound became, and soon enough Victoria spotted a small stream at the base of the hill.

'How the hell did I hear that from all the way up there?' she wondered, looking up behind her at the campsite. Despite her confusion, Victoria seized the opportunity of a fresh water supply and washed her hands and had a bit of a drink, since her throat was itching from the dry air. After her last gulp of water that was perishing yet satisfying, she rubbed her hands together which were now numb from the freezing temperatures, and decided that it was definitely time to return to her soft and inviting bedroll.

She began to walk back up the hill towards the group, but only made it halfway when a large hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder. Victoria sucked in a breath sharply, and swallowed a scream that would've surely followed. Now she was wide awake and scared out of her wits. She quickly looked up and the thing that grabbed her and came face to face with Boromir.

'Shit,' she thought, her heart sinking faster than lead. She wondered if it was too late to scream.

"You venture far from the camp," he stated roughly, a dagger glistened in his hand.

"Yeah, and I'm just going back to bed, k bye," she said as calmly and matter-of-fact-like as she could. She tried to twist away from Boromir grasp but it only made his grip stronger and harsher.

"What are you doing out here this late at night? Trying to slaughter us when no-one is watching?" He asked darkly; the silvery moonlight, shadowed his face and illuminated his eyes, giving them an eerie glow which was starting to creep Victoria out immensely.

"What?! No! I have told you a million times, I'm not a spy!" she tried unsuccessfully to keep the quiver from her voice.

"A spy would say that, and I have been told you are not of this world, this is a lie, and certainly something a spy would say." Boromir said, his eyes narrowing.

"Ok, so it's not the most believable truth, but it is the truth. I'm trying to help the Fellowship, please," she was almost begging him to believe her.

Boromir, _still_ not believing her, took a step closer so they were mere centimetres away, and lifted the small knife in his right hand and pressed it firmly on her throat. Victoria's eyes widened with terror and her heart began to pound rapidly inside her chest.

"Please Boromir, please you have to believe me. We both want to defeat Sauron, and we both want peace in Middle Earth, there is no reason for this. Now for the last time, I am NOT a spy, I'm here to help the group. Whatever you think of me as, is wrong," she pleaded.

"If you are not a spy, then you are nothing more than a distraction that is slowing the group down and delaying this quest," he hissed.

Victoria's shock quickly turned to rage, "I will never slow this quest down, and I sure as hell won't be any distraction," she spat back. "I can't believe that the son of the Steward of Gondor could be such a dick!"

He pressed the knife against her angrily and Victoria felt a drop of blood trickle down her neck. Ok, maybe that wasn't the most diplomatic thing to say in that situation, but she didn't care, she was beyond caring. She kicked him straight in the crotch forcing him to stumble backwards in pain.

"Don't you ever touch me again," she hissed, so angry she was seeing red.

"Or what?" He regained his balance and took a step closer to her. "What would happen if I did?"

"I'll-." That was as far as she got before a figure appeared behind Boromir and yanked him backwards into the darkness.

She stood there petrified, hearing the unmistakable sound of fists hitting flesh. A movement from behind her broke her trance and she took off sprinting up the hill as if the flames of hell were licking at her feet. She didn't care about the rocks that cut into her soles, or the burning in her chest. All she cared about was getting back to the camp as quickly as possible. Getting away from Boromir.

After a few minutes of running she couldn't move any further, her throat had constricted, denying oxygen passage into her lungs. This always happened when she did any form of exercise 'fucking asthma,' she thought to herself as she leant against a large tree, panting and gasping for air.

Once she had calmed down slightly, she started to run again until the campsite was just within sight behind the sea of tall, dark trees trunks. In the back of her mind she wondered who had stopped Boromir, but all thoughts flew from her head as she tripped over and uneven patch of ground and landed flat on her face. She groaned with pain and slowly stood up and brushed the leaves and twigs off herself when strong hands reached from behind and grabbed her arms, causing her to jump. Victoria opened her mouth to scream, and was silenced as a large hand clamped over her mouth.

She went crazy, kicking and screaming; struggling with everything she had, trying to free herself. All she could think about was getting stabbed by Boromir who was going to kill her the first chance he got; and this was it. She bit down on the hand as hard as she could.

"Ouch!" cried a voice, but it wasn't in Boromir's harsh tone, it was a soft and hypnotising. Legolas.

"I'm not going to hurt you, so stop fighting me." His voice calmed her more than anything else would. He removed his hand from her mouth and slowly lowered it to his side, then looked down to see Victoria distraught and shaking.

"Are you hurt?" He asked.

She shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. She pulled a section of hair forward over her shoulder to cover the cut mark on her neck, not wanting Legolas to freak out over a tiny scratch.

Legolas' eyebrows drew together into a frown as he noticed the small action and soon found the cut mark oozing with blood and immediately pushed her hair back to expose the wound.

He silently took her arm and started walking back to the camp, "What were you doing so far away from the group?"

Victoria rolled her eyes at his angry tone, she knew he'd bring that up.

"The reason I was so far from the camp was because I didn't want you to listen to me going to the bathroom with your super elf ears," she blurted out.

Legolas narrowed his eyes, not amused. "You should be glad I heard something or Boromir would have killed you."

She turned serious, realising he was right. "Yeah ok… Sorry." she whispered, feeling like a jerk. "And um… thanks... for that thing you did, the um, punching stuff, that was, uh…good."

His lips twitched into a smile before he turned his head away; they continued uphill towards the campsite in silence among the dark forest.

Legolas led her to her bedroll and told her to sit, "wait here," he whispered. He walked over to Bill who was sitting down and sleeping, and removed a piece of cloth and a small jar of healing ointment from a leather pack.

He knelt beside her, studying to cut on her neck. Softly, he dabbed the wound with the cloth, cleaning away the dirt. He then gently tilted her head upwards and brushed her hair back before applying pressure to the cut to stop further bleeding.

Victoria shivered once again as Boromir's words echoed in her head. 'You are nothing more than a distraction.' She shivered again, this time from the cold. She wondered if she was a distraction to the others. She had to ask.

"Legolas…" He looked up and Victoria felt her mouth go dry. "Do… do you think I distract the others?"

"Distract how?"

"You know," Victoria muttered, feeling a blush rise to her cheeks. "Do you think the others are distracted… by me being a girl and stuff?"

"Why?" His eyes suddenly narrowed, "Did Boromir say something?"

She let out a small sigh, "he just said that I was nothing more than a distraction and I'm slowing the quest down."

Legolas looked away. "I don't think all the men are distracted," he said slowly.

"Wait, you think some of them are?"

He gave her a wry look. "I think It's safe to say that Merry and Pippin are."

She smiled despite her nervousness. "Now that I think about it, there isn't much of a list. I can definitely rule out the hobbits and Gimli." She giggled. "And I don't think Gandalf will be a problem."

He smiled and continued as he took the the jar and dipped his finger into the balm and carefully spread it over the cut. "Boromir is the only person besides Aragorn and-." He cut himself off and looked away quickly.

Victoria felt her eyes widen. 'Aragorn?! No, he can't like me, can't he? He likes Arwen, doesn't he? Oh my good Gallifrey, that would mess up the entire plot!' She wondered frantically.

"Wait, you think Aragorn likes me?" She whispered incredulously.

Legolas wouldn't look at her. "I do not know. I think you should rest."

'That's it?! An 'I don't know'…what good will that do?'

She opened her mouth to ask him but he cut her off.

"Goodnight." It was more of an order than a comment.

"G'night," she whispered before she lay down, pulled her cloak over herself, rolled over onto her side and drifted into a dreamless sleep.


	12. The Doors of Durin

The 'oh-so wonderful' noises of people whispering dragged Victoria away from a peaceful sleep.

"Is she awake?"

"I dunno, but she isn't moving."

"Wait, she's breathing!"

"No kidding Pip… Come on, just wake her up!"

"Alright, but only because you said to!"

"What, me? No, no, no! This was your idea!"

She thought she heard a huff, then Pippin's weak reply of, "Fine."

She then heard some movement, then felt two small hands place themselves right at her sides and start, oh no he didn't!

She involuntarily squealed as someone tickled her awake and her eyes flew open to see Merry and Pippin crouching around her bedroll, sniggering.

"Good morning," she said smiling as she sat up, "Why d'you wake me up like that?"

"Oh no reason," Merry said, his grin widening, "you slept in longer than normal and we had to get you up."

"Oh ok, might I ask what time is it?" Victoria asked playfully.

"About eight o'clock," Pippin replied cheerfully.

"Almost time for second breakfast," Merry added patting his already empty stomach.

'Eight o'clock?! We usually leave way earlier than that,' she thought frantically.

"Did something happen? Why didn't we get moving sooner?"

"Dunno, Gandalf said something about us reaching the mines sooner than expected, so he said we could rest for a bit," Pippin replied as he looked over at the group sitting around the damp, extinguished campfire. Victoria followed his gaze and saw that Gandalf was smoking his pipe along with Aragorn and Gimli, who were chatting. Frodo and Sam were eating while Legolas and Boromir stood silently, not daring to look at each other.

"I wonder what happened to him?" Merry asked, pointing to Boromir, who was sporting a rather nasty looking black eye.

Victoria felt a pang of guilt in her chest and turned away, "Um, I'll be ready in two minutes," she promised, drawing the topic of Boromir away from the conversation.

"We'll get some breakfast for you," Pippin stated as he and Merry strolled back towards the group.

"Ok, thanks," she replied, yanking her boots on and clambering to her feet.

She brushed out her tangled bed hair with her fingers and pulled it into a high ponytail. She knew that tonight the Guardian would wake up and attack the Fellowship when they reached the Doors of Durin and she didn't need any stupid hairs flying around in her face.

She was attempting to tie her cloak around her neck when a voice stopped her short.

"Aren't you going to tell me what happened elf, or do I have to guess?"

She spun around and felt her eyes widen in shock. Legolas and Gimli were standing at the very edge of the camp- a good ten meters away.

"I do not wish to discuss it." She heard Legolas snap in an irritated voice.

'What. HOW am I hearing them?!' She wondered desperately, 'did I hit my head or something? Is it a migraine?' She pushed the thoughts out of her mind and slung her bag over her shoulder, tucked her bedroll under her arm and walked cheerfully over to the group.

"Morning," she said loudly, the men grunted in return.

Pippin handed Victoria her breakfast, consisting of a mixture of oatmeal and milk, and she sat down next to Aragorn to eat. Unfortunately the group continued their conversations and as Victoria was finishing her last mouthful she heard Gimli talking again.

"Oooh, so you like her, eh?" Gimli asked, rumbling with laughter.

Victoria frowned and swallowed quickly, not wanting to eavesdrop but unable to stop.

"Drop it dwarf." Legolas growled, Gimli however, just laughed harder.

'It's been five minutes and I'm already fed up with these men,' "Ok," Victoria announced, jumping to her feet, "Let's go."

"But we are ahead of time, we were supposed to reach the mines by tomorrow night, why not rest?" Aragorn asked.

"Well, the faster we get moving, the closer we get to Mordor, and the closer we get to destroying the Ring, the closer we get to defeating Sauron." Victoria explained impatiently.

"Alright," Gandalf said putting his pipe back into his pocket and standing up. "To Moria," he announced. The Fellowship quickly packed up and together, they made their way towards Gandalf, who was leading the group as usual. They started off in blissful silence. It lasted a whole minute.

Three hours later Victoria was ready to jump off a cliff. She was aching all over, tired, and her hearing, instead of returning to normal like she had hoped, actually appeared to be getting worse. Or better, as was the case. Every bloody noise, from the crunch of stones under her feet, to the small conversation of the Fellowship was amplified until she thought her head would positively explode. Her head throbbed with every forced step and she seriously pondered the idea of a brain tumour. That would explain the headache, but not her sudden acute hearing. More than likely, her headache resulted from all the conversations she had heard in the last 180 minutes:

Gandalf had talked to Aragorn about his sword.

Aragorn to Boromir about Minas Tirith.

Boromir to Merry about his fighting technique.

Merry to Pippin about Lunch.

Pippin to Frodo about Gandalf's fireworks.

Frodo to Sam about the Shire.

Sam to Gimli about Moria.

Gimli to Legolas about his braids.

'Is this what it's like for him?' she wondered, thinking of the elf. If so, it was a miracle he was still sane. Hearing every single sound was enough to drive anyone crazy.

She paused mid-step as she saw Aragorn approaching, "You are awfully quiet today, are you alright? You look pale."

"Yeah, I'm ok, just a really bad headache." As if to prove a point, she massaged her head. Victoria looked up at the man and found that he was staring quite intensely at her with his pale blue eyes, he was searching for something.

"He told you?" She shouldn't even have to ask. The answer was written all over his face.

"I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"He told you?" She repeated, more for her sake than his. She couldn't believe Legolas would tell him, especially after their conversation last night.

"He had to," Aragorn said simply. He motioned to where Boromir was walking. "He had to explain that."

Victoria looked towards the front of the group and caught sight of Boromir's black eye again, "Yeah I guess that would need a bit of an explanation."

He reached into his vest and pulled out a rolled up leaf. He unwrapped it, revealing what appeared to be a piece of bark.

"Try this." He broke off a small section and handed it to her. "It is known to relieve head pain."

Victoria studied the bark skeptically, "Do I eat it?"

Aragorn smiled widely, exposing his straight teeth, "No, you chew it… trust me," he added.

She looked down at the bark in her hand and shrugged, "what do I have to lose?" She muttered as she popped the soft piece of wood into her mouth and began to chew. It tasted, well, like a piece of wood, but with kind of minty aftertaste that made her head feel light and cool.

"Better?" Aragorn asked kindly.

Victoria nodded, shifting her hands uncomfortably; the comment Legolas had made last night about how Aragorn might be distracted by her had been nagging in the back of her mind all day. She couldn't let Aragorn like her in that way, he had to love Arwen in order to have the motivation to defeat Sauron and become king of Gondor. She didn't think the ranger thought of her like that, but perhaps she was wrong. It was known to happen occasionally. She had to know.

"I need to talk to you," she whispered as quietly as possible.

"Alright, why don't you sit?" He pointed to the rock beside him. Victoria looked around confused, she hadn't even noticed that the Fellowship had stopped for lunch.

She threw a nervous glance at Legolas who was studying his arrows carefully.

"Um, I need to talk to you…privately," she said with a blush.

Frowning the ranger stood and walked with her until they were a good distance away from the group.

"Is something the matter?" he asked looking concerned.

"No… Well sort of…It's kind of, um, embarrassing."

Aragorn grabbed her hand reassuringly. "You know you can ask me anything, Victoria."

Her cheeks flamed. "Y-yes, well it's kind of…private…and I just wanted to ask…I wanted to know… h-how you felt about me," she blurted out finally.

Aragorn dropped his hand immediately, looking shocked. "I see you as a friend." He said, blinking rapidly. "I…ah..I apologise if I have made you think…" It was his turn to stutter.

Victoria let out a long sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness, and no I don't think that," she assured him. "I could never see you as more than a friend, I'm glad you feel the same way."

'…And balance is restored to the Force,' Victoria thought to herself with a smirk.

Aragorn smiled in response, then gave a puzzled look. "May I ask what prompted these questions?"

Victoria quickly told him what Legolas had said last night and listened to him laugh as she finished.

"I think Legolas is the one who is distracted," Aragorn said with a grin, gently taking her arm and leading her back to the group.

Victoria rolled her eyes. "Now you sound like Gimli," she muttered.

Aragorn laughed again. "Maybe we can see you two better than you can see yourselves."

He turned towards her, pulling her to an abrupt stop. "Maybe you were sent here for him."

Victoria scoffed, "yeah right!"

She frowned realising he was serious. "The idea is crazy."

"Why is that?" Aragorn said, sounding rather offended.

"Because…uh," Victoria said, fumbling for a reason. There were a thousand reasons why the idea was preposterous. She decided to name the main one. "Because Legolas is, well, Legolas," she whispered, not wanting the elf-in-question to hear. "The thought of him needing anyone, especially someone like me, is ridiculous."

"Perhaps he is lonely." Aragorn stated softly. They both turned and looked at Legolas.

"Lunch is ready!" Merry announced, interrupting any further conversation they might have had.

Victoria distanced herself from the Fellowship and began to eat her small ration of lunch, bothered by the ranger's words. 'Could it be that Legolas was lonely?' The thought had never occurred until now, but she shut it away, and focused on Moria, on Gandalf. She balanced her bowl of bread and meat on her left knee while balancing her notebook on her right. She had finished her sketch of Merry and Pippin, and was now finishing the last touches on a doodle of Gandalf.

"His nose isn't right." she muttered as she rubbed out the nose to try again. Often, Victoria drew what was on her mind, and as she had to promise to lie to the entire Fellowship about the wizard's death, she had spent a lot of time thinking about him.

She thought she had made it fairly clear she wanted to be left alone, so was surprised when Legolas walked up and sat down beside her, startling her out of her thoughts.

"Bloody hell! You scared me." she spluttered.

"My apologies, Lady Victoria," he stated, "you look deep in thought."

Victoria shoved a huge bite of her lunch in her mouth so she wouldn't have to reply. 'I'm glad he can't read my mind.'

"Why did you and Aragorn go off by yourselves?" He asked suddenly.

"I had to know," Victoria said suddenly. She had to tell Legolas the truth; she couldn't let him go on thinking Aragorn liked her in that way. "and… You were wrong, Aragorn and I are just friends.

"You asked him?" Legolas sounded somewhat relieved.

"Of course I did, I had to know… And thank Gallifrey that he likes Arwen and not me, because that really would've messed everything up!"

Legolas shook his head. "You never fail to surprise me Lady Victoria," he admitted softly.

She smiled as she caught his eye. "And you, Prince, never fail to confuse me." It was true. He was a difficult man to figure out. Or elf as it was. She looked down at her hands and shifted uncomfortably.

They sat in awkward silence for the next few minutes before Legolas glanced over at her twiddling her pencil with her fingers. Her hands were covering something that resembled a notebook, filled with strange drawings.

"May I?" He asked quietly, pointing to the book.

"Uhh…Yeah, sure." Victoria replied hesitantly, as she handed it over to him.

He flicked through the notebook slowly and examined the pages. Each sketch earned a small smile from him, and as he turned to the page of her latest doodle; he stopped and chuckled, "I hate to break it to you, but Gandalf does actually have a nose."

Victoria looked over at the book he was holding and followed his gaze to the drawing of Gandalf that she hadn't finished. She still had to add in the nose.

She gave him a wry look, "oh, I am aware of that Legolas. I haven't finished it yet." she added with a laugh.

He smirked at her comment and closed the fabric-bound book and wrapped it with the attached leather cord. "They're good, your drawings," Legolas mentioned as he handed back the notebook to a blushing Victoria.

"Um, thanks…" she replied, her eyes darting away from him.

"I do need to talk to you, though" he started.

"Good job you're already doing it!" Victoria said sarcastically.

His smile turned serious as he continued, "I need you to tell me what will happen… in the future."

"Oh, alright…" She said, concentrating hard, she didn't want to forget any important details.

After another minute she began:

"We will reach the mines tonight, and we will discover the Doors of Durin. Gandalf won't be able to figure out the password. Eventually Frodo will solve the riddle and the doors will open just as the Guardian is awakening."

"What is the Guardian?" Legolas spoke up.

"Do you want to hear what's going to happen or not?" She teased. He nodded quickly. "Ok, then don't interrupt me."

"Anyways," she said dramatically. "Where was I? Oh yes- the Guardian. We will enter the mines to find skeletons of dwarf warriors killed by goblins. Everybody will try to exit the 'tombs', as Boromir calls them, and will get stopped by a huge squid creature- the Guardian." She gave him a pointed look.

"Then there will be a fight between us and the Guardian, as it will try to kill Frodo. After we do that, everyone will rush inside the mines as the doors cave in- leaving only one option. 'We must face the long, dark of Moria'." She quoted Gandalf.

"Then we will travel through the mines for a few days until Gandalf sort of gets lost, he then finds his way and we arrive in the great dwarven city, Dwarrowdelf. Gimli will find Balin's tomb and everyone will listen as Gandalf reads from Ori's books. 'We cannot hold them. We cannot get out. They are coming…' And of course Pippin will knock down a skeleton into the well and a band of orcs will attack us. They have a cave troll," she whispered. "After we kill it we will run to the bridge of Kazad-dûm."

Victoria paused unsure of how to continue, but then decided to cut herself off and not mention the Balrog at all. Legolas looked at her for a full 30 seconds, studying her intently.

"Is there anything else I should know?" He asked in a whisper.

"Nope," she lied. She couldn't break her promise to Gandalf, no matter how much she wanted to.

'I hope he forgives me…' She thought as she as she looked up at the elf with a fake smile.

Legolas glanced over his shoulder to see the Fellowship packing up their supplies and getting ready to move again.

"We'd better get back before Gimli gets the wrong idea," Victoria whispered.

Legolas held out a hand and Victoria allowed him to pull her to her feet. He grinned, "the dwarf always has his head in the gutter." Both of them laughed as they walked back towards the group and continued down the mountain.

They didn't reach the walls of Moria until long after the sun had set. Victoria trudged behind Legolas and Gimli as the group searched for the doors.

"Dwarf doors are invisible when closed." Gimli said proudly as he knocked his axe against the stone.

"Yes Gimli- even their masters cannot find them if their secrets are forgotten," Gandalf spoke up from the front.

"Why doesn't that surprise me?" Legolas muttered, loud enough for the dwarf to hear.

Victoria laughed as she heard Gimli growl in annoyance. She didn't bother searching for the doors, as she knew Gandalf would eventually find them. All she was worried about was the Guardian, and eyed the black water nervously. 'Maybe I can stop the hobbits from waking it up,' she hoped.

Sure enough, several minutes later Gandalf ran his hand over a smooth piece of carven stone and began wiping the dirt and dust away to reveal it's edges. The moon chose that moment to emerge from behind the clouds and almost magically, the doors appeared, glowing with bright blue light. Everyone looked on in fascination as Gandalf translated the writing that was etched into the arch of the door.

"It reads; The Doors of Durin- Lord of Moria- Speak friend and enter."

"What d'you suppose that means?" Merry asked curiously.

"Well it's quite simple," Gandalf answered. If you are a friend you speak the pass word and the doors will open."

He held up his staff perpendicular to the doors and spoke loudly in a foreign tongue. The Fellowship held their breaths, and nothing happened.

The wizard tried again, this time with different words. Still nothing.

"Nothing's happening," Pippin said- stating the obvious.

Victoria had to bite her lip to keep from smiling. 'That hobbit is gonna get in trouble if he doesn't watch it.'

Gandalf walked to the glowing doors and attempted to push them open. Victoria watched him as he stood there, muttering something under his breath.

"What are you going to do then?" Pippin asked the wizard, oblivious to the frowns he was receiving.

"Knock your head against these doors Peregrin Took, and if that does not shatter them, then I am allowed a little peace from foolish questions!" Gandalf snapped at the hobbit who had hung his little head in shame.

"I am trying to find the opening words," Gandalf sighed, sounding tired.

Victoria walked over to a rock and sat down. She knew that there was nothing else to do except wait for Frodo to solve the riddle, so she pulled out her notebook from her bag and distracted herself by sketching the outlines of the doors. The light from the moon and the doors combined, was just enough to let her see the paper of her notebook. She glanced up at the doorway; strange runes on the arch of the door was held up by two pillars with swirling vines, which altogether created a mystical aura.

She sighed and massaged her shoulder, then looked up towards Merry and Pippin who were just about to throw a pebble into the water. Instantly she leapt up from her seat, dropping her notebook and pencil on the ground, and grabbed Merry's arm.

"I really wouldn't do that if I were you," Victoria whispered in both of the hobbit's ears, "there's something in the water, and it would be great if you didn't wake it up."

They nodded their heads nervously and started to edge away from the lake. Victoria now felt calmer, knowing that the Guardian wouldn't be woken up, and so she strolled over to Sam and Aragorn and helped to unpack Bill and turn him loose. He was a very sturdy pony, with thick chestnut coloured hair and a splash of white down his forehead. Sam was the saddest to see him leave, as he and Bill had developed quite a strong bond.

"Don't worry Sam, he knows the way home," Aragorn said reassuringly to the hobbit whose eyes were welling up with tears.

Victoria patted his shoulder sympathetically, and was about to turn away when Sam reached out and tugged at her sleeve.

"Um, excuse me Lady Victoria, I- uh I just wanted to know what happens to Bill… I do want him to get home safely." He whispered.

She chuckled at his request, "trust me Sam, he gets back to Bree alright," she said as she walked back to her seat on the stony ground.

Legolas twirled his bow absentmindedly as he stared up at the night sky, lost in his thoughts. Half of him wanted to ignore Victoria's warnings and look at things rationally. Follow logic as he had his entire life. It was not logical that a woman from a different world, as she claimed to be, could know their future. It was not rational that she could know every detail of something that had not yet happened.

'Yet she is not lying.' He thought, remembering what she had told him when the they were attempting to cross Redhorn Pass. He knew this instinctively. He saw it in her eyes, heard it in her voice. She was telling the truth. 'At least the truth as she sees it.' He still hadn't ruled out the possibility that she might be somewhat crazy.

He glanced over to where she sat, scribbling a drawing into her notebook. 'She does not appear crazy…' He thought with a frown as he studied her closely. 'Well, she is crazy… but not the insane kind of crazy.' However, Legolas had never met a crazy person, so he had nothing to compare her to.

An hour passed, or was it two hours? Victoria didn't know, all she knew was that this 'figuring out the riddle thing' was taking way too long, and that they should have gotten into Moria by now. Part of her wanted to yell out the password, anxious to get away from the creature lurking in the water. The other part wondered if things were better left alone. 'Everything works out in the end,' she reminded herself.

'Well, except Boromir, Haldir and Theoden dying,' she realised with a frown. 'Maybe things aren't better left alone.' she argued internally. She looked over her shoulder at the lake and saw a ripple distort the smooth glassiness of the water. Her eyes widened in horror, "It's already awake,'' she whispered. It had been awake all along, awake and listening, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

She scanned the Fellowship, it didn't take long for her eyes to catch on Frodo, who was gazing at the doors with a confused look.

'Ok, this is taking way too long, a few more minutes and we are going to be attacked by a giant squid,' she said to herself as she shoved her book and pencil into her bag and plopped herself down next to the hobbit who was quite startled by her approach.

"Hey Frodo!" Victoria said with a cheerful smile. The young hobbit spun around and looked up at her with striking blue eyes. 'Gosh, does everyone in Middle Earth have blue eyes?' She thought enviously, comparing her dull, brown eyes to his vibrant ones.

"Hello Lady Victoria," Frodo said sounding tired and weary.

"Um, I wanted to ask you about your uncle Bilbo," she spoke quietly.

"You know Bilbo?" He asked, quite alarmed.

"Well, not personally no… But this is about something he did on his adventures."

"What would you like to know?" Frodo said as a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

Victoria smiled back, "I was just wondering if you anything about how Bilbo found the Ring in the first place."

The hobbit lowered his head slightly, the topic of the Ring seemed to turn him quiet. It was understandable. It would definitely spoil your mood if you constantly talked about the weapon of the enemy you're trying to smuggle into a dangerous land, that is at the same time, corrupting you and turning you against your friends. He let out a small sigh and looked back up at her. "Yes I know about that… Bilbo found it in Gollum's cave."

"Ok, but how did he actually get it?" she asked him, this time sounding a bit impatient. Of course Victoria knew how Bilbo found the Ring, she knew everything there was to know about Bilbo's adventures, but she was trying to get Frodo to realise a very important fact.

"He won it in a game of riddles."

"Oh...Riddles…" She repeated, trying to sound surprised, "what kind of riddles did he use?"

Frodo racked his brain in search of the memory of Bilbo telling him stories of the riddles in the dark, "there was one about teeth, one about eggs..."

"One about the sun, one about tables and chairs." Victoria chimed in.

"What other riddles were there?" Frodo said as he scratched his head.

"Oh, I don't know, 'speak friend and enter'?" Victoria said in a very matter-of-fact way.

The young hobbit looked up again, confused, "but, that's not right Bilbo never used that one-"

Her eyes met his, flicked over towards the Doors of Durin, then back to him, indicating that he was on the right track. His piercing blue eyes lit up as the answer dawned on him, and he stood up and walked in front of the doors.

"It's a riddle!" Frodo whispered in realisation.

"Now we're getting somewhere!" Victoria exclaimed as she jumped up from the rock and skipped over to where Frodo was standing.

"What's the Elvish word for friend?" The hobbit asked Gandalf who was sitting down off to the side, his pointed hat lay by his feet and he was smoking his pipe (again).

He sat bolt upright at Frodo's words, "Mellon," Gandalf and Victoria muttered in unison as the double stone doors swung outwards and the Fellowship cautiously made their way into the mines.

"Soon Master Elf, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the dwarves," Gimli told Legolas as they walked behind Gandalf. "Roaring fires, malt beer, red meat off the bone… This my friend, is the home of my cousin Balin," the dwarf continued proudly. "And they call it a mine!" Gimli rumbled with laughter, "a mine!"

The wizard tapped his staff on the ground and a bright light emitted from the crystal that was embedded in the head of the wooden staff. The room came into full view and the entire Fellowship was alarmed at what lay before them; skeletons, dozens of them. The once proud dwarf warriors, now lay hewn and rotten across the steps leading into Moria. Legolas looked over at Victoria in amazement and shock, 'she had known all along.'

"This is no mine, it's a tomb," Boromir stated darkly.

"No!" Gimli cried as he noticed the bodies. "NOOO!"

Legolas bent and removed an arrow from one of the skeletons. He recognised the crude marks. "Goblins," he hissed. He quickly threw the arrow to the floor with a clatter and readied his bow.

"We make for the Gap of Rohan," Boromir said quietly. "We should never have come here."

"Now get out of here," the man cried. "Get out!"

Legolas ran over to Victoria who was backing away from the doorway, terrified. He touched her shoulder gently making her jump and caused her to let out a startled cry. "Stay close to me." He commanded.

Victoria was only to happy to oblige, she didn't want to get anywhere near that thing, in fear of it tearing her limbs off and eating her.

"Strider!" Came Sam's cry from outside.

Aragorn, Victoria, Boromir and Legolas rushed out to help the hobbits. Legolas' eyes widened as they took in the creature attacking him. It was huge and slimy, it's tentacles the same colour as the cold, dark water. 'It's just as Victoria described it,' he thought as he shot an arrow into the center of the beast.

Around him, everyone jumped into action, trying to free Frodo from the monster's grasp. Victoria heaved Merry, Pippin and Sam who were struggling in the water, out onto dry land and ran with them back through the doors.

"What about Frodo? He's still out there!" Sam yelled to Victoria. She looked back, and saw the hobbit struggling free from the large tentacle. Legolas shot arrow after arrow into it's slimy flesh but it still did not release the hobbit. Aragorn severed the huge tentacles with his sword, not stopping until he chopped Frodo down. Boromir caught the hobbit in his arms and carried him out of the murky water.

"He's coming," Victoria shouted back to Sam, now with certainty in her voice.

"Into the mines!" Gandalf shouted.

"Legolas!" Boromir shouted as he ran for the caves. Legolas shot the creature one last time in the mouth and heard it bellow in pain. He turned and helped Frodo to his feet.

"Run!" Aragorn yelled as the monster crawled after them.

They all ran as fast as they could into the darkness. Legolas found Victoria and pulled her close just as the walls collapsed behind them.

Victoria wrapped her arms around Legolas as the darkness engulfed them, her heart pounding furiously against her ribs. She was scared out of her brain. She hadn't expected the Guardian to be so ugly, so scary, so...real. She pressed her head against Legolas' firm shoulder, trying to control the tremors that shook her body. Up until now, Middle Earth had seemed only partly real, just a series of images on a screen. Nothing could hurt her... Seeing the Guardian so close changed all that. The movie had become a reality. Full of real dangers like orcs and goblins and wargs. 'And I could really die' she realised with a shudder. Her breathing had become ragged and short, thanks to the dust kicked up by the fallen stones. She clutched her throat and tried to calm herself while Legolas placed his hand on the small of her back and pulled her slightly closer.

"We now have but one choice," Gandalf whispered, knocking his staff against the hard floor, sending echoes down the pitch black hallway before them. A pale light from Gandalf's staff flooded the cave and Legolas and Victoria simultaneously dropped their arms, stepping away from each other.

"We must face the long dark of Moria," Gandalf stated. "Be on your guard," he warned, "there are older and fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world."

The group began to walk and Victoria stayed as close to the elf as she could, still deep in thought. It sounded strange, but she hadn't counted on the movie becoming real to her. When she first agreed to join the Fellowship, she had been caught up in the dream that was Middle Earth. Now she had finally caught a glimpse of the evil brewing under the surface, she was terrified. The mines were dusty, deep, dark, cold and altogether uninviting. Not only was she petrified of falling, but she was also asthmatic. A mine was the absolute worst place she could be. For the first time since the start of the journey, She wondered if she had made a mistake coming along on this quest, she wasn't exactly cut out for trekking and running and battling orcs.

"Quietly now," Gandalf said to the group, "It's a four day journey to the other side...let us hope that our presence may go unnoticed."

Victoria groaned, wondering how she'd ever survive.


End file.
